If not delivered return to PO Box 7820 Canberra BC ACT 2610
1 May 2017
Our reference: LEX 29261
Mr Keith Owen
By email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx Dear Mr Owen
Acknowledgement of your Freedom of Information Request
I refer to your request for access to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982
(the
FOI Act). I have taken your request to be for:
'I respectfully request data on the number of suicides and homicides recorded by the
Child Support arm of the Department of Human Services for the preceding 12
months.
I respectfully request data on the number of "Termination Events" involving the death
of either a payee or a payer recorded by the Child Support arm of the Department of
Human Services.
We are aware these statistics are recorded, with particular reference to Suicides and
Homicides because the Child Support Arm of the Department of Human Services
makes reference to this data being recorded as a result of a "Critical Incident" and
treated as separate cases to generally recording the deaths of clients as "Termination
Events".’
Your request was received by the department on 22 April 2017 and the 30 day statutory
period for processing your request commenced from the day after that date. You should
therefore expect a decision from us by 22 May 2017.The period of 30 days may be extended
if we need to consult third parties or for other reasons. We will advise you if this happens.
The department will advise you if a charge is payable to process your request and the
amount of any such charge as soon as practicable.
Your Address
The FOI Act requires that you provide us with an address which we can send notices to. You
have advised your electronic address is
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx. We will send all notices and correspondence to this address. Please advise us as soon as
possible if you wish correspondence to be sent to another address or if your address
changes. If you do not advise us of changes to your address, correspondence and notices
will continue to be sent to the address specified above.
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Disclosure Log
Please note that information released under FOI Act may be published in a disclosure log on
the department's website. Section 11C of the FOI Act requires this publication, however it is
subject to certain exceptions, including where publication of personal, business, professional
or commercial information would be unreasonable.
Exclusion of junior department employee details
The department is working towards ensuring that all employees have a choice about whether
they provide their full name, personal logon identifiers and direct contact details in response
to public enquiries. Where such details are included in the scope of a request, this may add
to processing time and applicable charges as it may be necessary to consider whether the
details are exempt under the FOI Act. On this basis, unless you tell us otherwise, we will
assume that these details are out of scope of your request and they will be redacted under
section 22 of the FOI Act.
Further assistance
If you have any questions please ema
il xxx.xxxxx.xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Charlotte
FOI Registration Officer
Freedom of Information Team
FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
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Department of Human Services