Chief Ombudsman, John Allen, has asked for an urgent meeting with Secretary of Education, Ellen MacGregor-Reid, to discuss concerns he holds about reports of attempts to circumvent the Official Information Act at the Ministry of Education.
Mr Allen’s concerns relate to media reports which feature an extract from a leaked video, where a senior staff member from within the curriculum centre allegedly tells staff not to write down interactions with the Minister of Education’s Office to avoid their discovery under the OIA.
There are also claims that this incident is not a one-off, the Chief Ombudsman said in a statement.
“I have significant concerns about these allegations,” Mr Allen says.
“Public trust and confidence in the Ministry and the OIA would be undermined if they were found to be true.
“I am taking this issue very seriously and am now considering what action I may take to provide some independent scrutiny of these matters through a broader investigation under the Ombudsmen Act 1975.”
The claims are the latest in a series of leaks from the Education Ministry, many of them made to RNZ, in recent years.
