Ombudsman to investigate allegations Ministry of Education officials tried to circumvent Official Information Act

The Ombudsman will formally investigate allegations Ministry of Education officials attempted to circumvent the Official Information Act .

Chief Ombudsman John Allen met with the secretary for education, Ellen MacGregor-Reid, and the public service commissioner, Sir Brian Roche, on Friday morning "to discuss allegations of attempts to circumvent the Official Information Act at the Ministry of Education".

"It would not be appropriate to talk about the details of our discussion other than to say I have advised Ms MacGregor-Reid that I will be conducting a formal investigation into the allegations," he said.

It began with a leaked video of senior official Dr Catherine Law telling staff not to put information shared with education minister Erica Stanford's office in writing because it could be made public under the Official Information Act (OIA). The leaker said it was not an isolated incident.