Chief Ombudsman to carry out major OIA review

The Chief Ombudsman, Dame Beverley Wakem, has launched a major review of the Official Information Act (OIA) practices in the public sector.

A total of 12 central government agencies have been selected for formal review, and a further 63 agencies and all 27 Ministers’ offices are being asked to complete a detailed two-part survey covering all aspects of OIA practice.

The ombudsman has also formally notified the relevant CEOs and Ministers of the review process, to be conducted under the Ombudsmen Act. Dame Beverley has formally notified the relevant Chief Executives and Ministers of the review, which will be conducted under the Ombudsmen Act.

The agencies have been selected for review based on a number of criteria, including number of OIA requests received per year, number of OIA complaints to the Ombudsman, and length of time taken to respond to OIAs, among others.

According to the release, the Office of the Ombudsman will also seek broad input from current and former public servants, opposition parties, journalists, academic commentators and other users of the OIA.

Information on how members of the public may make submissions for the review will be released at the start of 2015.

“The effective operation of the OIA is crucial to our system of open and democratic government, and this review will scrutinise how things are currently operating and set out a framework for systemic improvement where deficiencies are identified," says Dame Beverley.

In recent months, there have been allegations in the media (at least one of which has been substantiated in the findings of an independent inquiry) that OIA processes have been circumvented for a variety of reasons.

“This has the potential to erode public confidence in the OIA throughout the core public sector,” she adds.

According to the Omdusman, the aim of this review is ti assess the quality of OIA practice across the public sector.

“The public needs the assurance that both the letter and the spirit of the law are being observed by the custodians of public information. Our independent review of agencies’ OIA practice combined with greater transparency of OIA processes should help renew the foundation for that assurance”.

“I expect that the project will yield very substantial benefits for both requesters and holders of official information and that it will act as a valuable OIA health check for agencies. My intention is that it will be the start of a more concentrated programme of engagement with agencies to help them meet their OIA obligations in the most effective and efficient manner possible,” she says.