Signed correspondence.pdf

Your Ref
Our Ref
LEX 561

Ras
Right to Know

By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx

Dear Ras

Your Freedom of Information request - decision

I refer to your request, received by the Department of Education (department) on 30 January 2023,
under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) which was in the following terms:
Under the Freedom of Information Act, I am keen to obtain the fol owing information related to al
public (including independent) primary schools of Western Australia for the years 2015-2022.
1. School Name
2. Number of registered Students in each school year
3. Number of students reported (funding requested) under each category of adjustment for
NCCD (Support through differentiation, Supplementary, Substantial, Extensive)
4. Number of students accepted (funding provided) under each category of adjustment for
NCCD (Supplementary, Substantial, Extensive)
5. Total funding provided per year level per school
6. Name of School Principal for each year

On 3 February 2023, the department advised you that, as the FOI Act provides a right of access to
documents rather than to information, we interpreted your request as being for documents
containing the information in parts one to six of your request. The department also advised you that
the department does not hold a single document containing al  of the information requested. The
department advised you that some of the information you sought access to is publicly available and
gave you details about where to access this information. The department also sought clarification
about the terms of some parts of your request and advised you about information the department
does not hold.
In response, you provided clarification on the same day about the scope of your request as follows:
Part 1:
My intention is not to get a list of schools but to get the finding details for each WA school. As such if
the name of the school is available under parts 3-6 that wil  be sufficient.

Part 2:
This information is no longer needed as I can access it from ACARA.

GPO Box 9880, Canberra ACT 2601 | Phone 1300 488 064 | www.education.gov.au | ABN 12 862 898 150

Part 3 and 4:
I am requesting this data in relation to individual Western Australian primary schools. If NCCD was not
used for funding prior to 2018, stil  need the total amount of funding provided to each school. If that
requires a new request kindly let me know.

For the year 2018 onwards wil  need it by individual schools based on each category.

Part 5:
I wil  need this information by school grade and not by calendar year.

Part 6 :
Can you provide partial information related to the name of the principal?

I am authorised to make decisions under the FOI Act and my decision regarding your request and the
reasons for my decision are set out below.
My decision
An agency or Minister may refuse a request for access under subsection 24A(1) of the FOI Act if:

(a) al  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
(i ) does not exist.

I have decided to refuse your request pursuant to section 24A of the FOI Act on the basis that
I am advised that all reasonable steps have been taken by relevant departmental officers to find
documents containing all of the information falling within the scope of your request and I am
satisfied that those documents do not exist within the department. Further information in relation
to each part of your request (noting your comments in relation to parts 1 and 2) is set out below.

Part 5 of your request

At part 5 of your original request, you sought access to the ‘total funding provided per year level per
school’ in relation to the relevant schools and time period specified in your request. In the
department’s correspondence with you on 3 February 2023, the department sought clarification
about whether your reference to ‘per year level’ was to calendar school year or to school grade, for
example, year 1 or year 6. The department advised you that school funding per school for each
calendar school year is published on the My School website using the search function and provided a
link to this website.
In your reply on 3 February 2023, you clarified that your reference to ‘per year level’ was to school
grade, rather than calendar year.
I am advised that the department does not hold any documents containing this information.  I am
further advised that it is not possible for the department to calculate the total school funding
provided by the Commonwealth disaggregated by school grade level because per student
Commonwealth funding amounts are only calculated at the primary and secondary school level,
rather than at the school grade level. In relation to state school funding and fee information by
school, I am advised the only information the department holds in relation to this is data produced
by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) and that this
information is publicly available on ACARA’s website.

Accordingly, I am satisfied that the department does not hold documents containing the information
you have requested at this part of your request.
Parts 3, 4 and 6 of your request

While I am advised that the department may hold several documents containing some small parts of
information relevant to parts 3, 4 and 6 of your request, this information is scattered across multiple
documents and pages. I am advised that the time required to identify every document that might
potential y contain information relevant to your request would be a substantial and unreasonable
diversion of the department’s resources. I have also considered section 22 of the FOI Act and I do
not consider that it would be reasonably practicable for the department to prepare an edited copy
of the documents having regard to the nature and extent of the modifications required and the
resources available to modify the documents (see section 22(1)(c)).

I have also considered whether a document can be produced under section 17 of the FOI Act.
Section 17 relevantly provides:

(1) Where:

(a) a request (including a request in relation to which a practical refusal reason exists) is
made in accordance with the requirements of subsection 15(2) to an agency;
(b) it appears from the request that the desire of the applicant is for information that is not
available in discrete form in written documents of the agency; and […]
(c) the agency could produce a written document containing the information in discrete form
by:
(i) the use of a computer or other equipment that is ordinarily available to the
agency for retrieving or col ating stored information; or
(i ) the making of a transcript from a sound recording held in the agency;
the agency shal deal with the request as if it were a request for access to a written
document so produced and containing that information and, for that purpose, this
Act applies as if the agency had such a document in its possession.

(2) An agency is not required to comply with subsection (1) if compliance would substantial y and
unreasonably divert the resources of the agency from its other operations.

Section 17 of the FOI Act can apply in circumstances where the information requested is able to be
produced in discrete written form by ‘the use of a computer or other equipment ordinarily available
to the agency or retrieving or collating stored information’ (section 17(1)(c)(i) above). I am advised
that while the department holds some of the information you have requested at these parts of your
request, this information is not collated centrally in the department’s electronic record systems and
the department would be required to collate the information from various, disparate existing
documents and systems. As such, section 17 of the FOI Act does not require production of a
document in this case as it is not possible to produce the document you have requested using a
computer or other equipment that is ordinarily available to the department for retrieving or
collating stored information.

In forming this view, I have had regard to the decision of the Full Federal Court of Australia in
Collection Point Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation which stated in relation to section 17(1)(c)(i) of
the FOI Act that the computer or other equipment referred to above ‘must be capable of functioning
independently to col ate or retrieve the stored information.’ For the reasons given above, the
department’s computer systems cannot function independently to col ate the information you
request.

Notwithstanding the above, I am satisfied that, even if it was found the department could produce
the information requested in a discrete written form by using a computer or other equipment that is
ordinarily available to the department for retrieving or collating stored information, producing such
a document would constitute a substantial and unreasonable diversion of the department’s
resources as contemplated by subsection 17(2) of the FOI Act.

I am advised by the relevant business area within the department that substantial work would be
involved in producing a discrete document containing the information to which you have sought
access. I am advised that the department would be required to extract the information you have
requested from multiple sources and collate the data by manually searching through existing
documents to extract relevant information and disregard information outside the scope of your
request. The department would then be required to undertake a quality assurance process to ensure
the accuracy of the information. I am advised this would take the department in excess of
approximately 30 hours and would require the involvement of multiple staff from across numerous
business areas of the department. Accordingly, I am satisfied that, even if the department could
produce a discrete document in written form using the computer resources available, the
department would not be required to do this because the work involved would substantial y and
unreasonably divert the resources of the department.

I have therefore decided to refuse your request pursuant to subparagraph 24A(1)(b)(ii) of the FOI
Act. I have enclosed information about your rights of review under the FOI Act at Attachment A.

I refer you to the department’s email to you dated 3 February 2023, outlining the publicly available
information that relates to the subject matter of your request to the extent this is of assistance to
you.

Yours sincerely

Alison
Authorised decision maker
Freedom of Information Team
Department of Education

28 February 2023

Attachment A
YOUR RIGHTS OF REVIEW
Asking for a formal review of an FOI decision
If you believe the decision is incorrect, the FOI Act gives you the right to apply for a review of the
decision. Under sections 54 and 54L of the FOI Act, you can apply for a review of an FOI decision by:
•  an internal review officer in the department and/or

•  the Australian Information Commissioner.
There are no fees for applying for a formal review.

Applying for an internal review by an internal review officer
If you apply for internal review, a different decision maker to the decision maker who made the
original decision will review your request. The internal review decision maker will consider all
aspects of the original decision afresh and decide whether the decision should change.
An application for internal review must be made in writing within 30 days of receiving this letter. You
can lodge your application by email to xxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.


Applying for external review by the Australian Information Commissioner
If you do not agree with the original decision or the internal review decision, you can ask the
Australian Information Commissioner to review the decision.
You will have 60 days to apply in writing for a review by the Australian Information Commissioner.
You can lodge your application in one of the following ways:
Online:
https://forms.business.gov.au/smartforms/servlet/SmartForm.html?formCode=ICR 10

Email:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx

Post:
Australian Information Commissioner

GPO Box 5218

SYDNEY NSW 2001

Complaints to the Australian Information Commissioner
Australian Information Commissioner
You may complain to the Australian Information Commissioner about action taken by an agency in
the exercise of powers or the performance of functions under the FOI Act.
A complaint to the Australian Information Commissioner must be made in writing and can be lodged
in one of the following ways:

Online:
https://forms.business.gov.au/smartforms/servlet/SmartForm.html?formCode=ICCA 1
Email:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx

Post:
Australian Information Commissioner

GPO Box 5218

SYDNEY NSW 2001