Acting Public Service Commissioner Heather Baggott today released the Official Information Act statistics for the six months to June 2024.

The latest statistics cover 100 agencies that collectively completed 36,133 official information requests between January and June 2024, a 17 percent increase on the previous six months.

Overall, agencies responded on time to 35,658, or 98.7 percent of requests, which is the highest since the Commission started collecting OIA data in 2015.

The average time to respond to all OIA requests, including extensions, across the Public Service departments and Crown entities, was 13 working days, the same as the previous period.

Overall, 6.7 percent of requests were extended, down slightly from 6.8 percent in the previous six months.

Of the 36,133 requests, 1033, or 2.9 percent, were transferred in full to be answered by other agencies.

Of the 9.1 percent of requests refused in full, most were refused because the information was either not held, did not exist, was already in the public arena or would soon be publicly available.

The Ombudsman notified agencies of 278 complaints, which represent 0.8 percent of all requests completed. A total of 91 final opinions were made against agencies, or 0.2 percent of all requests completed.

Ms Baggott said it was pleasing agencies continued to deliver responses in a timely manner in the six months to June when the Public Service was undergoing significant change, including fewer resources, and implementing the Government’s priorities.

“This is an excellent result, especially given the significant increase in volumes,” said Ms Baggott.

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