Official Information Request - Confidential Agenda Items

Sent: Thursday, 10 March 2022 4:33 pm
Subject: Official Information request - confidential agenda items

I refer to your online Official Information request of 24 February 2022 under section 21 of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (Act) for:

• Any document containing internal decision-making rules used to decide what items at council, SP&F or O&M meetings require to be discussed in a confidential session.
• Any document containing internal decision-making rules used to apply the public interest test for items/information to be confidential.

And enquiring whether any elected members have the ability to change or add an item to be discussed in confidential or removed from confidential.

Council does not have a document containing the rules, however the process for determining whether a report is to be considered in the confidential session of committee/council meetings is as follows:

• The report writer, being the officer who is the most familiar with the item for discussion, considers whether the item should be considered in the confidential session of the meeting under one or more of the clauses contained in section 7 of the Act, and submits the report quoting the section/s they consider the reason for considering the report in confidence.
• Prior to the agenda being collated and distributed, the Executive Team (CE and DCEs) review the content of all reports including reviewing whether any reports should be considered in the confidential section, taking into account the reasons why the report is proposed to be considered in confidence versus the public interest. The final decision as to whether a report is to be considered in the confidential session of a committee/council meeting is made by the Executive Team.

Reports on an agenda are reports from officers, of which elected members do not have the ability to change.

Elected members can request to add an item to the confidential session by raising the item as urgent business at the beginning of the meeting. The chair determines whether the item is urgent business and/or is confidential and whether it will be discussed at the meeting.

Elected members can request, at the beginning of a meeting, that an item in the confidential section be heard in the public session of the committee/council meeting. The request needs the support of the chair and the majority of committee/council members for this to take place.

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision. The Ombudsman’s Office can be contacted by calling 0800 802 602, emailing info@ombudsman.parliament.nz, online at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz, or by post to The Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.

Publication of responses to LGOIMA requests

Please note: Our LGOIMA responses may be published on the Rotorua Lakes Council website after they have been responded to, with requesters’ personal details withheld. If you have any concerns about this please contact the Council on info@rotorualc.nz

Regards