Official Information Act requests

We strive to be fair and open. We are committed to making information available under the principles of the OIA unless there is a good reason to withhold it.

The Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) allows you to make a request for official information held by New Zealand government agencies, including Health NZ. This includes:

• citizens
• permanent residents
• visitors to New Zealand
• body corporates registered or with a place of business in New Zealand.

Official Information Act 1982

• Internal policies and processes
• Health data
• Contracts
• Information about providers

Before making a request, please check our other sources of information. You may find the information you require is already available in our Publications section where we are publishing responses to OIAs.

If you cannot find the information you are looking for in our published responses, please email our Ministerial team.

Email: hnzOIA@health.govt.nz 

What to include in your email

When you email us, please include:

• your name
• contact address (email or postal)
• contact phone number
• details of the information you want - this needs to be as clear and specific as you can make it. We may ask you for more details.

You can also tell us if you are happy to receive the information in an alternative form, for example, oral briefing, viewing or summary.

We will acknowledge that we have received your request. We are required under the OIA to give you our decision on your request as soon as possible, and no later than 20 working days after we receive your request.

If we need more time to make our decision on your request, for example, if you're requesting a lot of information, we'll let you know and give you an idea of how long it will take.

Requesting official information is free, but we can charge a reasonable amount if it takes a lot of work to supply the information requested. We'll discuss this with you if we determine that we need to do this.

Under the OIA, information should be made available unless there is a good reason to withhold it. We may only withhold information for specific reasons set out in the Act. If this happens, we'll let you know why.

Refer to sections 6, 9 and 18 of the OIA

We publish our responses to OIA requests soon after we have sent the response to the requestor. The response letter details the information being released and explains what information, if any, has been withheld and under which grounds of the OIA. The requestor's name and address are removed before publication.

You can find these responses on our Publications page - just filter by Type: 'Response to OIA Request'. Documents are only available in Adobe PDF format and are listed in release date order, with the most recently released responses at the top.

In addition to material released directly in response to a particular OIA request, other proactively released material is available on our Publications page under Type: 'Information Release'. This includes material such as Board and Board Committee agendas and minutes, Cabinet papers and Cabinet Minutes.

If you're not happy with our response, email us to see if we can resolve the problem.

Email hnzOIA@health.govt.nz 

You can also make a complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman if you:

• have concerns regarding the decision we made on your request
• are unhappy about the way your request was treated or processed.

Office of the Ombudsman

Freephone: 0800 802 602

Email: info@ombudsman.parliament.nz

Postal address: PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143

Concerns can relate to:

• withholding of information
• extending the timeframe to respond to you
• any charges for providing the information you've requested
• delays in providing you with a decision or the information
• your request being transferred.

The Office of the Ombudsman can investigate and review our decision and may make a recommendation to us if it's considered appropriate.

Directory of Official Information

Directory of Official Information – this directory contains contact details for all Government organisations covered by the Act and enables people to find out where exactly their requests for information should be made.

Charging Guidelines for Official Information Act 1982 requests

Charging Guidelines for Official Information Act 1982 Requests – outlines what the Government regards as reasonable charges for the purposes of the Official Information Act.

Ombudsman's Official Information Guides

Ombudsman's Official Information guides – a series of guidance documents relating to OIAs.

Stats.govt.nz

Stats NZ – NZ.Stat table viewer to view datasets.

Official Information Act 1982

The Official Information Act 1982 – a copy of the current legislation.

Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission

Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission – providing oversight and leadership to State services.