Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has published his half-yearly data on Official Information Act (OIA) and Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) complaints.
The data covers the number of complaints received under each Act from 1 July to 31 December 2024, as well as the number of complaints completed by the Ombudsman during this period.
The number of complaints about the way Government agencies handle OIA requests continues to trend upwards. In the most recent six-month period, the Ombudsman received 1,029 complaints – a rise from 946 in the previous half year.
The top three types of OIA complaints related to refusals in full (315, up from 272), delays in making a decision (208, up from 189), and partial refusals (198, up from 186). The Ombudsman also received a number of complaints about incomplete or inadequate responses (94, down from 100) and extensions (74, the same).
Of the total received, 752 were from individuals (up from 695), 131 from media (up from 99), 33 from political party research units (down from 81), and the remaining 113 were from other sources.
There were 215 complaints made under the LGOIMA, down on the last six-monthly period when 250 complaints were received.
Of the 215 LGOIMA complaints, 192 were from individuals (up from 186), 13 from the media (down from 17), and nine from companies or ratepayer and other groups (down from 47).
The top four types of LGOIMA complaints were refusals in full (66), refusals in part (54), inadequate or incomplete responses (36), and delays in making decisions (34).
