Intervention 10: Provide legal representation under the Human Rights Act 1993 Performance Measure 10.1 Percentage of applications decided within four months of receipt of the Privacy Act material from the Commission, where applicable Baseline 80% Actual 2022/23 2022/23 Target Results 80% 70% Not Achieved Variance explanation (target vs actual 22/23 result) The variance is due to a range of factors. First, it is because we are generally underresourced for the volume of work we undertake, being only 4 legal staff at different levels of experience. Second, applications must be determined pursuant to the criteria set in the Human Rights Act 1993 and are judicially reviewable. Complex applications require close and careful analysis to meet our obligations as a matter of administrative law. Often, this will include seeking the view of the respondent, which can take time (for example, the Ministry of Social Development now asks for 3 months to respond). Third, applications must be given less priority than on-going litigation. The first two quarters of this reporting year had a heavy litigation caseload that absorbed the entire legal team. However, and despite the above, as an Office we have looked to identify where we can improve efficiencies in our process. We are now implementing a pilot scheme which looks to frontfoot as far as possible what needs to be collected in order to determine an application. So far, this pilot is working well and seems to be improving delivery. The pilot will be reviewed at the end of the second quarter of this reporting year. 2021/22 Results 68% 55