What is official information?
Official information means any information held by:
- government Ministers in their official capacity (information which is held by Ministers in a private capacity or in their capacity as members of a political party is not "official information");
- government departments, organisations and state owned enterprises;
- the Police;
- city, district or regional councils;
- school boards of trustees, universities, polytechnics and other tertiary education institutions;
- district health boards; and
- any other agency subject to the Official Information Act or the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act
and includes:
- documents, reports, memoranda, letters, emails and draft documents;
- non-written information, such as video or tape recordings (official information has also been interpreted to include information which is known to an agency but has not yet been written down);
- the reasons for any decisions that have been made about you;
- manuals which set out internal rules, principles, policies or guidelines; and
- the agendas and minutes of meetings (including those not open to the public).
The agencies subject to an Ombudsman’s jurisdiction under the Official Information Act include:
- Ministers of the Crown;
- the agencies listed in the First Schedule of the Ombudsmen Act (except for the Parliamentary Counsel Office, the Parliamentary Service and mortality review committees); and
- the agencies listed in the First Schedule of the Official Information Act.
The agencies subject to an Ombudsman's jurisdiction under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act include those listed in:
- the First Schedule of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act; and
- council-controlled organisations and council organisations: the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act applies to council-controlled organisations as if they are local authorities - see section 74 of the Local Government Act 2002.
You can request official information from any of the agencies described above.
If you are unsure whether an agency comes under our jurisdiction, contact us.
If you are unsure where you should direct your request, the "Directory of Official Information" may also be of assistance. The Directory is published by the Ministry of Justice and is updated every two years. It lists all of the organisations and ministerial offices that are subject to the official information legislation together with a description of the roles of those organisations. The Directory should be available in local public libraries. Alternatively, it can be found on the Ministy of Justice's website at: http://www.justice.govt.nz/publications/global-publications/d/directory-of-official-information-december-2009/publication