Ministers and central government agencies are taking Official Information Act requests more seriously, according to figures released in the 2009/2010 Annual Report of the Ombudsmen.
The report showed the Ombudsman received 164 delay complaints against ministers and central government agencies in the 2009/10 period, down 23 percent on 2008/2009 figures, and down 43 percent on 2007/2008 figures.
This is the lowest number of delay complaints since the 1993/1994 period.
This showed ministers and central government agencies were taking the statutory time limits seriously and were using the mechanisms available in the legislation to avoid breaching them, according to the report.
The Act allowed individuals to request information from government bodies and officials.
If a request was refused without good reason, or a response to a request was delayed for an unreasonable length of time, a complaint could be made to the Ombudsman, who was obliged to investigate.
The Ombudsman received 920 complaints under the OIA this year, representing an increase of 12 percent on the previous year.
Over half of these complaints were made by individual members of the public, 17.9 percent were made by the media, and 10.8 percent were made MPs and political research units.
A quarter of complaints were made against government departments, a quarter were made against local authorities and other agencies, 14 percent were made against Ministers of the Crown, and 37 percent were made against other state sector agencies.
The disproportionately large percentage of complaints against ministers showed how interested New Zealanders were in understanding executive government, the report said.