ONE NATIONAL CIRCUIT
BARTON
FOI
FOI/2020/161
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982
REQUEST BY:
John Smith
DECISION BY: Ms Ellyse Paton
Acting Chief People Officer
People Branch
By ema
il: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Smith
I refer to your email of 6 July 2020 in which you made a request (the
FOI request) under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the
FOI Act) to the Department of the Prime Minister and
Cabinet (the
Department) in the following relevant terms:
‐ A document that contains the total number of non‐APS staff, filling equivalent roles
to actual APS staff in your department.
‐ A document that contains a list of all position titles within your department, that are
currently filled by non‐APS staff.
Typically these non‐APS employees are ostensibly employed through labour hire
agencies, and fulfil functionally equivalent roles to their colleagues.
If no such document exists please advise.
Authorised decision-maker
I am authorised to make this decision in accordance with arrangements approved by the
Department’s Secretary under section 23 of the FOI Act.
Decision
I have decided to refuse the request under section 24A(1)(b)(ii) of the FOI Act.
Postal Address: PO Box 6500, CANBERRA ACT 2600
Telephone: +61 2 6271 5849 Fax: +61 2 6271 5776 www.pmc.gov.au ABN: 18 108 001 191
Searches for documents
My Branch is the relevant line area for your request. Having regard to the information
recorded and held by my Branch, I can advise that the Department does not record the
information you are seeking. This has been confirmed by searches undertaken by my Branch
of the relevant databases and systems in the Department for any document that might fall
within the scope of your request, and no such document was found.
Decision
Section 24A(1) of the FOI Act provides that:
An agency or Minister may refuse a request for access to a document if:
(a) all reasonable steps have been taken to find the document;
and
(b) the agency or Minister is satisfied that the document:
(i)
is in the agency’s or Minister’s possession but cannot be found; or
(ii)
does not exist.
I am satisfied that all reasonable steps have been taken to find the document within the scope
of your request and that no such document exists.
I have therefore decided to refuse the FOI request under section 24A(1)(b)(ii) of the FOI Act.
Processing and access charges
I have decided not to impose processing charges in respect of the FOI request.
Review rights
Information about your rights of review under the FOI Act is available at
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/reviews-and-complaints/.
Complaint rights
You may make a complaint to the Information Commissioner about the Department’s actions
in relation to a request. Making a complaint about the way the Department has handled an
FOI request is a separate process to seeking review of the Department’s decision. Further
information about how to make a complaint is available at
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-
of-information/reviews-and-complaints/make-an-foi-complaint/. Yours sincerely
Ellyse Paton
Acting Chief People Officer
People Branch
31 July 2020
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Document Outline