At the beginning of the month I commented on preliminary results from my annual OIA performance survey, which has seen Ministerial performance jump significantly since last year. I'm still waiting on a few Ministers (new Ministers had to be sent a two-stage request, and I failed to notice that Tariana Turia refuses to answer her Ministerial email), but here's another improvement. Last year, Gerry Brownlee was the worst Minister, answering only 39.7% of requests within the statutory 20-day limit. This year, he's boosted that to 54.8%. Still utterly unacceptable, but a few more years, and he'll get there. Sadly, this improvement in timeliness has come at the cost of a substantial increase in mean (but not median) response time - meaning that when things are late, they're even later. So, he still has a lot to work on.
The good news is that he is working on it. His response included this comment:
Over the course of the past 12 months, I recognise that there have been some instances where responses to requests for information under the Official Information Act have not met the deadlines required by the Act. I would comment that the past year has been extraordinary, particularly with the Canterbury earthquakes and the tragedy at Pike River, which I know you are aware of having dealt with people from my office during this time.I'm hoping that review results in a significant improvement in performance. There are ministerial offices with very heavy OIA loads which manage a perfect or near-perfect response rate. Brownlee can do the same if he sets his mind to it and instructs his staff accordingly.Notwithstanding this, dealing with requests for information under the Official Information Act is a matter that I take seriously and I have instructed my office to instigate a thorough review of the systems and processes used to manage and track requests made under the Official Information Act.
