Has the Minister or their staff had any discussions with any officials who planned to charge for replying to Official Information Act requests and if so, what advice, if any, did they provide those officials?

Answer

In my term as the Minister of Internal Affairs, neither I nor my staff have had discussions with any officials in relation to charging for a response to an Official Information Act request. For Crown Entities; Fire and Emergency, the Classification Office, and Lotto NZ, neither I, nor officials have had discussions around plans for charging for Official Information Act responses.