Watchdog takes action after education officials' leaked OIA comments

A top watchdog has “significant concerns” about allegations that the Official Information Act may be being circumvented at the Ministry of Education, after reporting from the Herald showed a senior education official telling staff not to put information in writing.

Chief Ombudsman John Allen has today asked to urgently meet Secretary of Education Ellen MacGregor-Reid to “discuss concerns he has about reports of attempts to circumvent the Official Information Act at the ministry”, a statement from his office says.

The Ombudsman considers and investigates complaints about official information requests as part of a public sector watchdog role.

It follows a leaked video, revealed yesterday by the Herald, showing Dr Catherine Law, the programme lead for the secondary school curriculum refresh, telling workers not to put in writing that “stuff has gone backwards and forwards” with the minister’s office.

She notes the information is “OIA-able”, referring to the Official Information Act, a freedom of information law allowing New Zealanders to request official information about activities and correspondence within the Government.

The statement from the Ombudsman says “there are also claims that this incident is not a one-off”.

“I have significant concerns about these allegations,” Allen said.

“Public trust and confidence in the ministry and the OIA would be undermined if they were found to be true.

“I am taking this issue very seriously and am now considering what action I may take to provide some independent scrutiny of these matters through a broader investigation under the Ombudsmen Act 1975.”

The Ministry of Education said on Tuesday that the comments caught on the recording were “inconsistent” with its expectations of staff and obligations under the OIA.

• Urgent debate to be held in Parliament after official's leaked OIA comments

“Suggestions that information should not be recorded in writing to avoid scrutiny are completely unacceptable and undermine trust in the public service,” a statement said.

The matter was “being addressed directly with the employee in question” and it “would not be appropriate to comment on an individual employee while those processes are underway”.

The ministry also launched an internal review “to provide assurance that this is an isolated incidence”.

Dr Catherine Law was speaking at a meeting when she made the comments.

The video is of an online meeting held recently in which Law said staff in the minister’s office may provide feedback on material from the ministry relating to the new subjects. She told those in the meeting she would communicate with them if there were any questions.

“What I just need to say to you all, to make sure I have said it and it is really clear, is: I will communicate to you saying, ‘this is a bit of informal feedback’, ‘could you just, da da da da’,” Law said.

“Please don’t respond with anything that references the minister’s office. Remember all of this is OIA-able. This is them helping us. What we do not need is anything in response in writing that shows that this stuff has gone backwards and forwards between them and us.”

Law says to be “really mindful” during this “process”, which she says comes “before we start the formal one, which is through the bags and that is all formal and public and transparent”.

“You will notice I will just use passive verbs and just say this, so as far as anyone is concerned it is just some feedback from me.”

The Herald has also attempted to contact Law through the ministry and the school where she’s a principal.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) has said the meeting took place as “officials were managing feedback and workload” across 74 subject drafts due for release in Term 4.

The minister previously told the Herald curriculum documents had been sent to a ministry official based in her office, but she had not received them herself.

Education Minister Erica Stanford says the matter is being dealt with by the ministry. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Labour Party called for a Public Service Commission investigation.

Education spokeswoman Ginny Andersen said the video raised “serious questions about instructions given to MoE staff to keep political matters out of emails and avoid OIA scrutiny, following conversations with Erica Stanford’s office”.

She said, “Any breach of public service obligations must be properly investigated, and the public deserves answers.”

Stanford told the Herald on Tuesday that she had spoken with the Secretary of Education and was “confident that she’s got this in hand”.

“She’s already talked to the Public Service Commission. She’s already talked to the Ombudsman, and she’s already looking into the matter and taking it very seriously,” Stanford said.

Asked if anyone in her office had instructed Law to make it clear to staff not to put information in writing, Stanford responded: “My officials and myself have never, ever said to anybody to subvert the course of the OIA”.

“We take our obligations extremely seriously, and this is a matter for the Secretary of Education and her staff.”

She reiterated that neither she nor her political staff had yet received the secondary school curriculum documents. An official seconded from the ministry to her office had, which Stanford said was the normal process.

“The seconded staff make sure that they’re in the right order for me, that they are appropriate for me to see and then I see them, but I haven’t seen them yet.”

Labour's Ginny Andersen is wanting an investigation into the matter. Photo / Mark Mitchell

A debate on the matter was granted in the House on Tuesday afternoon, with Andersen calling it an “issue of serious importance for New Zealand’s democracy, for the neutrality of our public service and accountability within Government”.

“It is about a culture of cover-ups, not only within the Ministry of Education, but wider in government as well.”

Stanford, in her response, said, “It was very disappointing to see the MoE officials were making comments that were reported in the New Zealand Herald.”

She stressed that “not myself or anybody else in my office has ever directed or even suggested that anyone should not comply with the OIA or do anything other than fully comply with it”.

Jamie Ensor is the NZ Herald’s chief political reporter, based in the press gallery at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. He was a finalist in 2025 for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.