Deaths in social housing
Dear Department of Social Services,
How many people have died in their NSW FACS housing accommodation between 2005 and 2015 with their bodies only discovered some days later.
I'm aware that sometimes FACS only discovers bodies after some considerable time, perhaps weeks.
I'm personally aware that one gentleman's body was not discovered for around 5 days.
Yours faithfully,
Ray Gibbons
[email address]
0423 091 274
Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) inbox of the
Commonwealth Department of Social Services (DSS). Your email, should it be
a request for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act
1982, will be actioned by the appropriate team member.
If your email is for any other enquiry you should direct it to
[1][email address]. It will not be actioned from this inbox.
GENERAL INFORMATION
If you are seeking general information about FOI, you may find the
following websites useful:
[2]http://www.dss.gov.au/contact/freedom-of...
[3]http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-inform...
PROCESS
An FOI officer has received your email and it will be actioned
accordingly. In the case of a valid FOI request, you can expect us to
provide an acknowledgment that the request has been received as soon as
practicable, but in any case no later than 14 days after today.
REQUESTS OUTSIDE OFFICE HOURS
Please note that if this message has been received outside our business
hours of 9am to 5pm (Eastern Standard Time), Monday to Friday or on
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Kind regards,
DSS FOI Team
Email: [4][Department of Social Services request email]
References
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1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.dss.gov.au/contact/freedom-of...
3. http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-inform...
4. mailto:[Department of Social Services request email]
Dear Mr Gibbons,
Thank you for your correspondence to the Australian Government Department
of Social Services.
Please note that you are requesting information held by the NSW State
Government Department of Family and Community Services. Your request would
be better directed to this agency.
Further information on submitting a Right to Information request to the
agency under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) can
be found at [1]http://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/about_us/righ....
Kind regards,
Information Team
Department of Social Services
-----Original Message-----
From: ray gibbons [mailto:[FOI #1315 email]]
Sent: Friday, 16 October 2015 12:13 PM
To: FOI
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Deaths in social housing
Dear Department of Social Services,
How many people have died in their NSW FACS housing accommodation between
2005 and 2015 with their bodies only discovered some days later.
I'm aware that sometimes FACS only discovers bodies after some
considerable time, perhaps weeks.
I'm personally aware that one gentleman's body was not discovered for
around 5 days.
Yours faithfully,
Ray Gibbons
[2][email address]
0423 091 274
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Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[3][FOI #1315 email]
Is [4][Department of Social Services request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests
to Department of Social Services? If so, please contact us using this
form:
[5]https://www.righttoknow.org.au/change_re...
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This
message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet.
More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
[6]https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
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References
Visible links
1. http://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/about_us/righ...
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[FOI #1315 email]
4. mailto:[Department of Social Services request email]
5. https://www.righttoknow.org.au/change_re...
6. https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...
Dear FOI,
Your department fobbed me off to the state body responsible for social services. This is a nation wide request, for which your department must keep overall statistics across all states and territories.
If you do not keep these statistics, can you please advise accordingly. It will then become an Australia wide issue, which I will raise with the Federal Government.
Yours sincerely,
ray gibbons
Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) inbox of the
Commonwealth Department of Social Services (DSS). Your email, should it be
a request for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act
1982, will be actioned by the appropriate team member.
If your email is for any other enquiry you should direct it to
[1][email address]. It will not be actioned from this inbox.
GENERAL INFORMATION
If you are seeking general information about FOI, you may find the
following websites useful:
[2]http://www.dss.gov.au/contact/freedom-of...
[3]http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-inform...
PROCESS
An FOI officer has received your email and it will be actioned
accordingly. In the case of a valid FOI request, you can expect us to
provide an acknowledgment that the request has been received as soon as
practicable, but in any case no later than 14 days after today.
REQUESTS OUTSIDE OFFICE HOURS
Please note that if this message has been received outside our business
hours of 9am to 5pm (Eastern Standard Time), Monday to Friday or on
a public holiday, your request will be actioned on the next business day.
Kind regards,
DSS FOI Team
Email: [4][Department of Social Services request email]
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.dss.gov.au/contact/freedom-of...
3. http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-inform...
4. mailto:[Department of Social Services request email]
Dear Mr Gibbons
Thank you for your email below. I refer to your original request to the
Department of Social Services on 16 October 2015 (attached) in which you
asked:
“How many people have died in their NSW FACS housing accommodation between
2005 and 2015 with their bodies only discovered some days later.
I'm aware that sometimes FACS only discovers bodies after some
considerable time, perhaps weeks.
I'm personally aware that one gentleman's body was not discovered for
around 5 days.”
The Commonwealth Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) gives a right
of access to documents, not information, held by the Commonwealth
Government.
From the wording of your request, it was not apparent to the Department
that you:
· were requesting documents held by the Commonwealth Government, or
this agency in particular; or
· were requesting documents relating to information about
nation-wide statistics on deaths in social housing.
For these reasons it was reasonable for the Department to suggest you may
wish to make a request to the New South Wales government under equivalent
legislation.
For a request to be valid, section 15 of the FOI requires that it:
· be in writing; and
· state that the request is an application for the purposes of the
FOI Act; and
· provide such information concerning the document as is reasonably
necessary to enable a responsible officer of the agency to identify it;
and
· give details of how notices under the Act may be sent to you.
Any request received which conforms to the requirements set out above will
be treated as a fresh request (not an internal review application) and
processed according to the FOI Act.
Kind regards,
Information Team
Commercial, Child Care, Disability and Information Law Branch
Legal Services Group
Department of Social Services
DSS acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia,
and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our
respects to them and their cultures, and to elders both past and
present.
Note: This email and any attachments may contain confidential or legally
privileged information (and neither are waived or lost if this email has
been sent to you by mistake). If you are not the intended recipient, you
must not use, disclose, copy or retain it. If you have received it in
error, please let me know by reply email and then delete this email from
your system and do not retain any copy. Recipients within DSS should seek
assistance from DSS Legal before disseminating this email to third
parties.
-----Original Message-----
From: ray gibbons [[1]mailto:[FOI #1315 email]]
Sent: Friday, 30 October 2015 11:57 AM
To: FOI
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Deaths in
social housing
Dear FOI,
Your department fobbed me off to the state body responsible for social
services. This is a nation-wide request, for which your department must
keep overall statistics across all states and territories.
If you do not keep these statistics, can you please advise accordingly. It
will then become an Australia wide issue, which I will raise with the
Federal Government.
Yours sincerely,
ray gibbons
-----Original Message-----
Dear Mr Gibbons,
Thank you for your correspondence to the Australian Government Department
of Social Services.
Please note that you are requesting information held by the NSW State
Government Department of Family and Community Services. Your request
would be better directed to this agency.
Further information on submitting a Right to Information request to the
agency under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW)
can be found at
[1][2]http://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/about_us/righ....
Kind regards,
Information Team
Department of Social Services
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[3][FOI #1315 email]
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This
message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet.
More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
[4]https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #1315 email]
2. http://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/about_us/righ...
3. mailto:[FOI #1315 email]
4. https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...
Dear Department of Social Services,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Department of Social Services's handling of my FOI request 'Deaths in social housing'.
Can you please tell me if DSS keeps information on numbers of deaths in social housing by period by state or territory. If so, how do I get this information. So far, I've been fobbed off.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/d...
Yours faithfully,
ray gibbons
Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) inbox of the
Commonwealth Department of Social Services (DSS). Your email, should it be
a request for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act
1982, will be actioned by the appropriate team member.
If your email is for any other enquiry you should direct it to
[1][email address]. It will not be actioned from this inbox.
GENERAL INFORMATION
If you are seeking general information about FOI, you may find the
following websites useful:
[2]http://www.dss.gov.au/contact/freedom-of...
[3]http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-inform...
PROCESS
An FOI officer has received your email and it will be actioned
accordingly. In the case of a valid FOI request, you can expect us to
provide an acknowledgment that the request has been received as soon as
practicable, but in any case no later than 14 days after today.
REQUESTS OUTSIDE OFFICE HOURS
Please note that if this message has been received outside our business
hours of 9am to 5pm (Eastern Standard Time), Monday to Friday or on
a public holiday, your request will be actioned on the next business day.
Kind regards,
DSS FOI Team
Email: [4][Department of Social Services request email]
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.dss.gov.au/contact/freedom-of...
3. http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-inform...
4. mailto:[Department of Social Services request email]
Dear Mr Gibbons,
I refer to your request dated 8 November 2015 for information held by the
Department of Social Services regarding numbers of deaths in social
housing by period by state or territory.
Your application will be treated as a fresh request, not an internal
review. An internal review application can only be made for an agency’s
issue of charge or decision on access and no such decision has yet been
made in relation to a valid FOI request. Your request will be processed
according to the Freedom of Information Act 1982.
Should you have any queries, please contact the Department’s Information
Team at [1][Department of Social Services request email].
Kind regards,
Information Team
Department of Social Services
DSS acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia,
and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our
respects to them and their cultures, and to the elders both past and
present.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[Department of Social Services request email]
Dear Mr Gibbons,
Please see attached the Department of Social Services’ decision on access
in regards to your request received 8 November 2015.
Kind regards,
Information Team
Department of Social Services
E: [1][Department of Social Services request email]
DSS acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia,
and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our
respects to them and their cultures, and to the elders both past and
present.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[Department of Social Services request email]
Neale Gentner left an annotation ()
I had reasonable success with FOI/RTI requests by:
1. Telephoning the relevant "right to information" office.
2. Discussing at length what information I required, and why I required it.
3. Learning the relevant department's language & protocols.
4. Modifying my requirements. Being very specific to identify what was required. In your case, within a set time frame, incidences of delayed discovery of deaths which had occurred within public housing buildings, I presume you have no interest in normal, natural deaths which were promptly reported, however, specifically requesting the total number of deaths may provide a useful comparison. Another angle may be to request figures for housing which became available due to death of former occupants.
5. Carefully drafting my request so that it complied with requirements of those who held the information, while simultaneously covering every avenue.
6. Bear in mind you may have to pay a fee for every page, so keep request specific to what you need.
7. Requests for everything and anything may be rejected.