Corrections’ Official Information Act statistics

Corrections is committed to the principles of transparency and openness as a vital aspect of being accountable to the people of New Zealand. The Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) is a key mechanism to promote these principles. Our positive record of meeting our OIA obligations highlights our commitment to these important principles. In 2022/23, we received and responded to 10,043 OIA requests into our National Office [2021/22: 8,855]. Of those sent, 99.3 percent were responded to within legislated timeframes.

In September 2022, the Office of the Ombudsman released a report into Corrections’ OIA compliance and practice.

The below table provides key statistics relating to OIAs managed by Corrections’ National Office. Corrections is continuing to investigate how to capture centralised statistics for OIAs managed by prisons and Community Corrections sites.

In addition to the figures below, similar data has been publicly released through other avenues, including Corrections’ Annual Reports and six-monthly statistics published by the Public Service Commission. There may be minor discrepancies between the figures presented via different sources. This is due to the data being extracted at different times and Corrections’ ongoing quality assurance process to ensure the data is as accurate as possible.

Official Information Act timeliness and release of requests

Financial Year

2022/232021/222020/20212019/20202018/19
Official Information Act requests received and responded to
10,0438,8567,491
6,392
5,057
% of responses responded to within the statutory timeframe99.3%99.2%96.8%98.2%98.5%
% of responses where an extension was deemed necessary1.9%3.0%4.5%2.5%3.1%
% of OIA responses where the information was released in full91.8%*91%94.2%93.1%88.6%
% of information requests fully transferred in accordance with Section 14 of OIA0.1%0.1%0.2%0.2%0.47%
% of information requests partially released1.9%1.7%2.4%3%5.6%
% of OIA requests where the information requested was refused under section 6, 9 or 18 of the OIA6.4%4.6%3.1%2.7%6.1%
Average number of working days to respond to an OIA9.268.55.56.3
Ombudsman OIA Complaint - Investigations notified to Corrections2664273134
Ombudsman OIA Complaint – Final Opinions64595

*Restated to reflect a clearer data collection methodology.

View complete data set of OIA timeless and release of requests XLSX, 11.9 KB from financial year 2016/17 to current year.