Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC)

Request for information about how and when PHARMAC recruits CAC members.

23 April 2020

[name and contact details redacted]

Dear [name redacted] 

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION 

Thank you for your email of 8 April 2020.  You have asked for information pursuant to the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA), specifically:

  • when the term of the current Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC) members is up for renew, and
  • how the Agency calls for nominations from the public. 

PHARMAC generally takes a case-by-case approach to how it calls for applications for CAC membership depending on the number of vacancies we have at any particular time and/or whether there are some particular skills or groups we would like representatives from, e.g. youth, Māori, Pacific. 

PHARMAC recently publicly advertised CAC vacancies, however these applications closed on 15 March 2020.  The vacancies were advertised through our website and social media channels (i.e. Facebook).  We shared this widely with our email distribution list of consumer advocacy groups.  

Membership expiry dates for the current CAC members is withheld under section 9(2)(a) of the OIA, as this is private information.  Further, members’ terms can be extended.  

As required under the OIA, we have considered whether, in the circumstances, the withholding of this information was outweighed by other considerations which render it desirable, in the public interest, to make this information available.  In this case we did not consider that the public interest outweighed the reasons for withholding the information.  Please note you have the right, by way of complaint under section 28(3) of the OIA to an Ombudsman, to seek an investigation and review of our decision.

We are making our information more freely available, so we will now publish selected OIA responses (excluding personal details) on our website.  Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about this. 

Yours sincerely

Rachel Read
Manager, Policy and Government Services