OIA Forum for LEADERS

Transcription

1 OIA Frum fr LEADERS Mnday 14 August. 1:30pm 3:30pm. Ministry f Justice meeting rms ks3.3, 3.4 and Aitken Street, Wellingtn Facilitatr: Michael King, Senir Advisr, SSC AGENDA: 1:30 1:50 2:05 2:20 3:10 3:25 Welcme and pening remarks Debbie Pwer, Deputy State Services Cmmissiner and CE, SSC Practive Release: the Cabinet Manual and Cabinet Guide Anna Fleming, Cabinet Office Legal Advisr, DPMC Practive Release: Guidance fr Agencies Mrag McCnville, OIA Prject Team, SSC Practive Release: Agency Experiences Agencies: Plice, Statistics NZ, DPMC Future OIA Frums Generate a list f items/actins peple wuld like t see/d. Next steps, feedback, clse.

2 OIA Frum 14 August 2017 Deputy State Services Cmmissiner Debbie Pwer Summary f Speaking Pints Setting the scene thanked participants fr devting time t imprving hw infrmatin is released acrss the State services. At the first frum facilitated by SSC in January, thse present expressed the view that it wuld be helpful if the frum ran as tw streams: ne fr Practitiners and ne fr agency Leaders. The Practitiners stream fcuses n day-t-day issues f implementing the Act while the Leaders frum fcusses n leadership issues and driving agency change. This is the first OIA frum fr Leaders. We set ut t widen the reach fr this frum and extended the invitatin list t all 111 departments and statutry Crwn entities subject t the OIA. We are delighted t have representatin frm each class f agency here tday. Public Service Departments Nn-Public Service Departments Autnmus Crwn Entities District Health Bards Crwn Agents (wh are nt DHBs) Independent Crwn Entities. Statistics being released We are currently reviewing the data fr the next release f stats next mnth, which shw imprvements have been made. Early analysis shws that ver the past year: the vlume f requests has grwn slightly. A ttal f 41,842 requests were handled in 2017/16, up 3.9 percent n the 40,273 requests handled in 2015/16. timeliness is imprving. Agencies handled 92.9 percent f their OIA requests within the legislated timeframes. This represents an imprvement f 5.3 percentage pints frm 87.6 percent in 2015/16. There is mre wrk t d in this regard. There is als sme insight regarding the rates f cmplaints. Abut 1 in 80 OIA respnses result in a cmplaint being made t the Ombudsman and reprted back t the agencies. In all, 531 cmplaints were ntified acrss 65 agencies In the perid surveyed, the Ombudsman upheld 114 cmplaints against 33 agencies. This represents 0.27 percent f all OIA requests handled. And, we have wrk t d in the area f practive release. ttal number f published OIA respnses was 553, r nly 1.32% f OIA requests handled. UNCLASSIFIED 2

3 number f OIA respnses published n websites ranged frm 0 t 263 with nly 15 f 111 agencies publishing OIA respnses. Clearly, this is an area fr imprvement, and judging by the turn ut tday, it s als an area f great interest. Cnclusin statement There is a lt f cmplexity in this area what t release, when, and hw. The guidance we ve prduced will g sme way tward helping yu navigate this territry. These frums are just ne part f a whle prgramme f wrk aimed at imprving capability and cmpliance with the OIA. The OIA wrk prgram within the SSC, f which this frum is a part, is aimed t supprt yur effrts in imprving practices and perfrmance. Thank yu again fr cming tday, and I acknwledge the imprtant rle yu playing in building and maintaining the trust and cnfidence f New Zealand and New Zealanders thrugh the administratin f the OIA. UNCLASSIFIED 3

4 Cabinet Office Presentatin t OIA Frum - 14 August 2017 General Revised Cabinet Manual signed ff by Cabinet in March and was launched in June. Last time it was reviewed was Mst f the changes were updates, a few chapters needed t be substantively changed in sme parts t reflect changes in law. Chapter 8 Chapter 8 cvers Official Infrmatin and Public Recrds. Practive release There are a few new paragraphs n practive release in Chapter 8. Mre generally, it states that the type f infrmatin that might be apprpriate fr practive release will be plicies, prcedures, research and infrmatin that might assist the public t participate in gvernment decisin-making and infrmatin that is likely t be the subject f OIA requests. In relatin t Cabinet material, the Manual has included the general expectatin that Cabinet material n significant plicy decisins will be released practively. This reflects the cmments that the frmer PM made at the launch f the Plicy Prject framewrks last year. The Minister is the nly persn wh can authrise the practive publicatin f Cabinet material. The intentin t practively publish a paper shuld be nted in the publicity sectin f the paper. It desn t need t cme with a separate recmmendatin. There generally wn t be any need t cnsult the Cabinet Office. CabNet has led t a few practical changes in terms f accessing Cabinet papers that will be reflected in hw yu practively publish papers that have been generated since it came int being. There have als been a cuple f changes in practice in the last few years: Where yu are releasing Cabinet material practively, it is the submissin and the Minute that shuld be released. Cabinet Cmmittee Minutes shuld nt be released until they have been cnfirmed by Cabinet. Minutes and submissins shuld be prvided tgether wherever pssible, t prvide cntext fr readers. The final versins f papers shuld always be the nes that are released. UNCLASSIFIED 4

5 CabNet Minutes n lnger include the physical signature f the Cabinet secretary, but n lnger necessary t withhld thse. Likewise, the distributin list can be released, unless there is gd reasn t withhld. The watermark shuld remain. We have recently published updated guidance n CabGuide abut the practive release f Cabinet material. Desn t apply t recrds f a previus administratin the cnventin n access t Cabinet recrds f a previus administratin will apply. OIA While talking abut the Cabinet Manual changes, I thught it might be wrth mentining a cuple f the ther main changes relating t the OIA sectin f Chapter 8. The sectin n OIA cnsultatin has been updated. The main change is t clarify the difference between ntificatin and cnsultatin with Ministers. Departments need t be clear whether they are cnsulting a Minister n an OIA request r ntifying them f a request r a respnse t a request. If cnsulting, adequate time needs t be allwed. Make it clear that the Minister is being cnsulted and allw time fr any cncerns t be taken int accunt. Of curse, the decisin is still the departments and the Minister s view shuld nt be determinative. N surprises principle will apply t the release f infrmatin requested under the OIA. It is gd practice fr Ministers and Chief Executives t agree n hw cnsultatin and ntificatin shuld happen generally. Practive Release: Guidance fr Agencies See PwerPint Slides. See Practive Release f Official Infrmatin Agency Guidance UNCLASSIFIED 5

6 Practive Release Agency Experiences NZ Plice Presentatin t OIA Frum 14 August 2017 Summary f speaking pints Plice has a prject underway the Public Engagement: OIA Actin Plan prject. Develping a plicy arund the practive release f infrmatin is ne f the key deliverables f this prgramme f wrk. Practive release ges t the heart f Plice s visin arund having the trust and cnfidence f all by being pen and transparent. Where is Plice at with this wrk? Paper prepared n prpsed principles fr the practive release f infrmatin, the next phase f develping natinal guidelines and an assessment prcess, including such things as an apprvals prcess, any resurce implicatins, and technlgy cnstraints. Next step is t develp ptins fr implementatin f the agreed apprach. Challenges: Plice receives ver 11,500 OIAs per year, nt including media requests. Need t cnsider what will the public get the mst value frm. Like ther agencies Plice needs t cnsider sectin 48 f the Official Infrmatin Act and any implicatins. Plice perates a decentralised mdel fr respnding t OIAs and any plicy/prcedures guidelines needs t cnsider this fr example as part f an apprvals prcess. N decisins yet n what Plice might publish. Optins fr cnsideratin culd include requests that are demand driven r related t statistics that are already published n Plice s external website r infrmatin that was part f planned publicatin. Other practicalities t cnsider: Currency f published respnses and hw lng t remain psted Keeping a recrd f what is psted t meet external reprting requirements Advising requestrs that requests may be published and timing f this advice UNCLASSIFIED 6

7 Statistics NZ Presentatin t OIA Frum 14 August 2017 Summary f speaking ntes Guiding factrs in ur OIA prcess There are a cuple f things wrth keeping in mind when we cnsider hw Stats NZ lks at Official Infrmatin Act requests. The first is that prviding infrmatin and insights t the public is a key part f ur business nt an imprtant but additinal task like many ther public service bdies. While we have a relatively lw number f OIA requests each year, we received 950 requests in 2016/17 fr custmised data, and ver 11,000 statistical r data related enquiries. While these are treated thrugh separate prcesses, they are still respnded t cnsistent t the Official Infrmatin Act. Fr the purpses f this presentatin, I m talking abut the smaller grup f requests we ldge and treat as OIAs. The secnd is that the Stats NZ cmmitment t making data pen, and especially ur cmmitment t the Open Gvernment Partnership mean that we aim t release infrmatin where it is safe and apprpriate t d s. Cmmitment 2 f the OGP relates t imprving fficial infrmatin practices, t make gvernment infrmatin mre accessible. These things really guide us in ur apprach t practively publishing OIA requests. When d we release respnses t OIA? In terms f ur prcess fr practively releasing infrmatin, we wrk n an exceptin basis. We always begin with the assumptin that when respnding t a request, we will make the respnse publically available via ur website. We dn t have a written plicy fr practively releasing ur respnses. Because we have relatively few OIAs we can be agile and treat each request n a case by case basis. On every respnse, we include a standard line indicating t the requester that Stats NZ intends t publish the respnse n ur website. This states the respnse letter, with persnal details remved, is published in its entirety. We als indicate that publishing respnses increases the availability f infrmatin t the public and helps prmte balanced public debate. And it hpefully means less wrk fr us dwn the rad, as we will have fewer requests fr the same infrmatin. Stats NZ tends t take a pretty cautius apprach t releasing data we take the privacy and trust f New Zealanders very seriusly. The flipside f this, is that when an OIA respnse has been made, we perate n the assumptin that the infrmatin has entered the public sphere, and is publicly available. This is particularly true fr OIAs made thrugh FYI.rg. This means we can be mre cnfident in ur decisin t publish OIA respnses after releasing them. Hw d yu time the publishing f an OIA respnse? Generally we aim t publish respnses t OIAs sn as practical, allwing time fr the respnse t enter the public dmain. Mre ften than nt hw sn we publish the respnse after it has been sent t the requester is guided by the current wrklad f the team. Ideally we aim t publish all respnses within a week f sending it t the requester. Within the team we have spken abut waiting a respectful length f time befre publishing fr requests that might have a high media interest, r t give requesters time t make sense f the respnse. We haven t cme acrss a situatin where this might apply yet. UNCLASSIFIED 7

8 DPMC Presentatin t OIA Frum 14 August 2017 Summary f speaking ntes Develpment f Practive Release Plicy A very recent refresh. Signed ff by the CE last week after presentatin t ur ELT. Previus plicy included bth principles and prcess and didn t specifically cver practive release Refreshed plicy: is slely fcused n principles, leaving prcess t be determined and able t be changed ver time cvers OIA respnses and practive release f bth OIA respnses and release f infrmatin nt cvered by a request plicy will be published n ur external website ELT is very supprtive f ur new plicy. A prcedures dcument is in the prcess f being develped and will be presented t ELT fr their cnsideratin sn. Clear supprt fr greater transparency (via increased amunts f practively released infrmatin.) Implementatin next steps / cnsideratins Our next step is the implementatin f the refreshed plicy. OIA respnses Update ur OIA respnse templates t reference that infrmatin may be published, excluding the requestr s name We expect t publish nly a selectin f respnses We re aiming fr ur first published release by 30 Sept. Practive release withut a request Planning sme prmtin f the refreshed plicy via ur intranet. We are planning t engage directly with business units t prmte the Ministerial Services Team, but als hw we can supprt them in the area f practive release. We will d any redactins using the OIA grunds, as we think it is mre efficient t d this nce. UNCLASSIFIED 8