The Public Service Commission today released the Official Information Act statistics for the six months to June 2026.
The latest statistics cover 101 agencies that collectively completed 44,431 official information requests between 1 January and 30 June 2026.
This is an increase of 1,248 requests from the previous period and the highest volume since reporting began in 2016.
The Public Service Commission collects and publishes data on a range of measures, including the average time for agencies to respond to requests, and the use of extensions, transfers, and refusals.
Overall, agencies responded on time to 43,724 requests, or 98.4% – the second highest result on record. In the previous period, 97.8%, or 42,230 requests, were responded to on time.
The average time to respond to requests across public service departments and Crown entities was 12.6 working days, an improvement on the 13.1 working days in the previous period.
A total of 2,789 requests (6.3%) were extended, and 1,227 requests (2.8%) were transferred to other agencies. A total of 4,044 requests (9.1%) were refused in full, most commonly because the information did not exist or would soon be publicly available.
The Ombudsman notified agencies of 510 complaints, with a total of 33 final opinions made against agencies, or 0.07% of all requests completed.
