Open government strengthens democracy by improving transparency and understanding of how government works, facilitating public participation and accountability of the Government to its people.
Te paerewa The standard
Our roles in open government
Open government means we aim to enable public participation by being proactively transparent about our work and how government functions. Where possible we look for ways to improve the accessibility and availability of information and services.
There are rules, frameworks and processes that support open government and transparency, such as:
- access to information through the Official Information Act 1982 or Privacy Act 2020, and proactive release of information
- consultation frameworks to support public feedback
- co-designing services with communities, and
- how we provide advice, for example, accessible formats.
We should use these frameworks where relevant to our work and identify and discuss opportunities to be open with our organisation.
While being open is important, we must balance transparency with the legitimate need to keep some information confidential, for example, privacy concerns or information under active consideration of Ministers. Disclosure of government information must follow our organisation’s information management policies and procedures and comply with the law.