Source: Office of the Ombudsman
The Chief Ombudsman John Allen 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 January to 30 June 2025, 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 has continued to rise year on year. However, in the most recent six-month period, there was a slight decrease in complaints compared to the previous half year (1,025 complaints, down from 1,029 in the previous half year).
The top three types of OIA complaints related to refusals in full (260, down from 315), partial refusals (258, up from 198), and delays in making a decision (210, up from 208). We also received a number of complaints about incomplete or inadequate responses (96, up from 94).
Of the total received, 794 were from individuals (up from 752), 113 from media (down from 131), 54 from companies, associations, incorporated societies or collectives (down from 55).
There were 251 complaints made under LGOIMA, up from the previous six-monthly period when 215 complaints were received.
Of the 251 LGOIMA complaints received, 209 were from individuals (up from 192), 20 from companies, associations, incorporated societies or collectives (up from nine), and 14 from the media (up from 13).
The top four types of LGOIMA complaints were refusals in full (66, consistent with last year), refusals in part (52, down from 54), delays in making decisions (53, up from 34), and inadequate or incomplete responses (47, up from 36).
Complaints data (1 January – 30 June 2025)
Complaints received
Complaint type Individual Media Other Total received LGOIMA 209 14 28 251 OIA 794 113 118 1,025
LGOIMA or OIA complaints received may also be from: political party research units; trade unions; special interest groups, companies, associations, incorporated societies, Members of Parliament, etc. These are categorised as ‘Other’ in this table. See this half year data set for more detail.
Reasons for complaints
Complaint type Delay in decision Refusal in full Refusal in part Incomplete/ inadequate response Extension Other LGOIMA 53 66 52 47 7 26 OIA 210 260 258 96 47 154
Complaints completed
Complaint type Individual Media Other Total completed LGOIMA 230 17 59 306 OIA 1,032 161 155 1,348
The ‘Other’ category may include complaints about decisions to make information available subject to a charge; the manner or form in which information was released; alleged delay in releasing information; extensions of the time limit to making decisions on requests; refusal – statement of reasons; refusal – internal rules and guidelines; refusal – personal information about body corporate. See this half year data set for more detail.
About the data
The data released by the Ombudsman concerns both OIA and LGOIMA complaints received and completed from 1 January to 30 June 2025. It includes information on the number of complaints received by Minister or agency, the nature of the complaint and type of complainant (media, private individual, etc). For the complaints completed, the data also includes the outcome of the complaint.
The data does not enable a direct comparison between agencies, as complaints data on its own does not give the full picture. The number of complaints received by the Ombudsman may be a very small proportion of the total number of OIA or LGOIMA requests received by an agency.
Te Kawa Mataaho | Public Service Commission publishes its own data on OIA requests received by agencies and their response times on the same day as the Ombudsman publishes.
