5 Mar 2014

EQC promises action on backlog

6:48 pm on 5 March 2014

The Earthquake Commission has promised it will deal with a backlog of information requests from Christchurch residents by the end of April.

Commission chair Sir Maarten Wevers told Parliament's government administration select committee that the commission accepted that its response to thousands of requests had not been good enough.

Labour MP Clayton Cosgrove wanted to know who would be held accountable for the delays. Sir Maarten responded that responsibility was very clear.

"We apologise for it. The evidence Mr Cosgrove is that since the 7th of September last year every single OIA request, bar a handful, have been answered within the statutory timeframe. That was the commitment of the board."

Sir Maarten Wevers said the EQC had set up a separate group to deal with the backlog of requests and they should all be resolved by the end of March.