Monday, May 10, 2010



OIA performance stats: The public data

As part of my project on the performance of government agencies under the Official Information Act, I've been gathering public information. Some agencies publish data on their OIA performance in their annual reports. And the Annual report of the Ombudsmen [PDF] gives some information on complaints. Here's the information for 2008-2009 so far:

AgencyRequestsOn timeComplaints
Land Information New ZealandLess than 71100%Unknown
Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs2100%Unknown
Ministry of Justice18398%Unknown
Ministry of Defence6497%Unknown
Department of Internal Affairs1794%Unknown
The Treasury26785%Unknown
Te Puni KōkiriUnknown80.5%Unknown
Ministry for the Environment17571%Unknown
Ministry of Health643Unknown24
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade192UnknownUnknown
Department of Conservation162UnknownUnknown
Ministry of Women's Affairs8UnknownUnknown

(Source: All information is from agency annual reports. Treasury's data has been calculated from its sub-departmental breakdown. I've excluded agencies with complaints but no data on requests or response rates because it seems rather pointless)

Its disturbing how little information there is. There are 34 agencies listed in the schedule to the State sector Act and classed as "public service departments" - but only 12 give any data. Pretty obviously some of these agencies - LINZ, Pacific Island Affairs and Justice - are doing well. Others, particularly MfE and TPK, are doing very badly. A mere 80% compliance with the law is unacceptable.