INCOMING OIA; former Ministers information regarding vaccine procurement

Kia ora Philip,

 Thank you for your email regarding OIA2526-1176.

 I do not accept at this stage that the request should be refused under section 18(f) without DIA first assisting with refinement, including identifying the classes of records held, the likely volume, and whether the request can be met by staged release or by narrowing to authoritative records.

 To avoid unnecessary collation of all routine correspondence, I refine the request as follows.

 Refined request

 Please provide, for the period 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2022, copies of formal or substantive records held by, sent to, sent from, or copied to the Prime Minister’s Office concerning:

 1. vaccine purchasing or procurement;

2. Crown indemnities, indemnity agreements, or liability protections connected with COVID-19 vaccines;

3. financial exposure, fiscal risk, contingent liabilities, or risk allocation arising from vaccine procurement or rollout;

4. rollout funding, appropriations, Cabinet funding decisions, or cost estimates;

5. liability, adverse-event liability, compensation exposure, or Crown responsibility arising from vaccine procurement or rollout.

 For the avoidance of doubt, this refined request is limited to communications or records involving one or more of the following:

 1. DPMC;

2. Treasury;

3. Ministry of Health;

4. Health New Zealand or its predecessor agencies;

5. Pharmac;

6. the Minister of Finance or the Minister’s office;

7. the Minister of Health or the Minister’s office;

8. the Minister for COVID-19 Response or the Minister’s office.

 Document types requested

 Please limit the search to formal or substantive records, including:

 1. Cabinet papers, Cabinet minutes, Cabinet committee papers, Cabinet committee minutes, or related briefings;

2. ministerial briefings, aide-mémoires, memoranda, decision papers, advice papers, and talking points;

3. records of decisions, meeting notes, or meeting minutes;

4. substantive emails or letters that record advice, approvals, risk assessments, indemnity issues, fiscal exposure, liability, or procurement decisions.

 I am not seeking purely administrative emails such as meeting scheduling, diary management, acknowledgements, routing emails, or duplicated internal forwarding chains unless they contain substantive decision-making content.

 Search assistance requested

 If DIA still considers section 18(f) may apply, please first provide:

 1. the estimated number of records or volume of material captured by the refined request;

2. which part of the request is said to cause substantial collation;

3. whether the issue is date range, number of agencies, document type, search terms, or duplication;

4. whether the request could be answered by staged release;

5. whether DIA can provide a schedule of relevant records before release decisions are made.

 Please also consider whether any part of the request can be granted, even if another part requires further refinement.

 Royal Commission report

 I note your recommendation that I view the Royal Commission’s report. That report does not replace DIA’s obligations under the Official Information Act. My request is for primary records held by or involving the Prime Minister’s Office concerning procurement, indemnity, fiscal exposure, rollout funding, and liability.

 Please confirm that the request is now accepted in refined form. If DIA proposes any further narrowing, please identify the specific practical barrier and provide a proposed wording that would allow the request to proceed without refusal.

 Tracy Lynch