OIA improvement good news - but more needed

Public service agencies are doing their part to promote transparent and open government, the PSA says - but there is more work to be done.

State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes has released the latest statistics on the Official Information Act, which shows continued improvement in agencies’ compliance with the Act.

But National Secretaries Erin Polaczuk and Glenn Barclay echo the Commissioner’s call for agencies to be more proactive in the way they handle official information.

"We want to see more agencies publishing their OIA responses on their websites, as this is an important tool in aiding transparency," Ms Polaczuk and Mr Barclay say.

"In addition to this, government agencies need to improve their record on proactively releasing information, in the spirit of the OIA."

Mr Barclay and Ms Polaczuk say the State Services Commission needs to broaden the scope of its research in order to give a clearer picture of how the OIA is being applied.

"We would like to see more information gathered on the number of requests that are declined, as this would be a useful quality check."
ENDS

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