Open Government Partnership New Zealand National Action Plan 2016-2018
Date: September to November 2017
Commitment 2 progress report: September to November 2017
Commitment 2: Improving official information practices
Lead agency: The State Services Commission
To make government information more accessible by adopting a consistent set of agency practices in response to requests for official information.
Milestones
Milestone 1
Ensure information about the OIA (how to make requests, etc) and responses to requests are easy to access on agency websites. This could include development of single OIA web pages for agencies
Progress: completed
Milestone 2
Publish OIA statistics (how many requests, time taken to respond, etc)
Progress: completed
Milestone 3
Develop a clear statement of government policy on proactive release of Cabinet papers and related material
Progress: completed
Milestone 4
Develop a suite of consistent measures about OIA performance
Progress: completed
Milestone 5
Improve access to official information by publishing responses to requests on government websites and developing principles for more proactive release
Progress: completed
Milestone 6
Agencies will be supported to deliver through the development of appropriate guidance and training.
End date: June 2018
Progress: underway
What have we been doing?
- Preparing for the July-December collection of OIA statistics, including updated agency guidance on OIA statistics.
- Drafting practical guidance for agencies to help officials manage and make decisions on official information requests.
- Launching an agency self-assessment tool on official information capability.
- Developing case studies on different OIA structures and operating models that are working successfully across a range of agencies to provide some initial guidance for others when they are considering making changes in these areas.
- Planning and facilitating an OIA forum on 23 November.
- Planning workshops (to be delivered in December) to support agencies with:
- developing a proactive release policy, and
- using the Official Information Capability Development Toolkit.
- Redeveloping the Official Information webpages on the SSC website to make it easier for agencies to locate information and guidance supporting practice improvement.
- Surveying 110 agencies to establish baseline information about their proactive release policies and practices.
Links
- https://www.publicservice.govt.nz/our-work/official-information/
- https://www.publicservice.govt.nz/assets/Legacy/resources/Selection-Reporting-of-OIA-Statistics-v2.pdf
- https://www.publicservice.govt.nz/resources/official-information-statistics/
- https://www.publicservice.govt.nz/assets/Legacy/resources/Capability-Development-Toolkit.zip
What’s next?
- Collect statistics from all 111 agencies for the period July to December 2017, with publication in February 2018.
- Plan the OIA forum and seminar/workshop programmes for 2018.
- Provide targeted support to a small number of agencies on developing a proactive release policy.