High impact error rates for 2019/20
Dear Department of Veterans' Affairs,
The information I am seeking is:
The percentage of high impact errors, (HIE), by each quarter in 2019/2020 for the following:
: MRCA Initial Liability Claims,
: DRCA Initial Liability Claims,
: MRCA Permanent Impairment, and
: DRCA Permanent Impairment.
I request that each of the above categories be further broken up to include the following:
: Number of cases checked.
: Total number of work elements.
: Number of work elements with HIE.
: HIE correctness rate, and
: Average work elements per case to one decimal point.
Yours faithfully,
ALAN ASHMORE
Dear Mr Ashmore
Acknowledgement of your Freedom of Information (FOI) Request
I refer to your request for access to documents held by the Department of
Veterans’ Affairs (Department) under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(Cth) (FOI Act).
Your request was received by the Department on 2 July 2020 and was made in
the following terms:
The percentage of high impact errors, (HIE), by each quarter in 2019/2020
for the following:
: MRCA Initial Liability Claims,
: DRCA Initial Liability Claims,
: MRCA Permanent Impairment, and
: DRCA Permanent Impairment.
I request that each of the above categories be further broken up to
include the following:
: Number of cases checked.
: Total number of work elements.
: Number of work elements with HIE.
: HIE correctness rate, and
: Average work elements per case to one decimal point.
The Department has 30 days to finalise your request. The 30 day statutory
timeframe commenced the day after your request was received by the
Department.
Ordinarily you should expect a decision from the Department by Wednesday,
3 August 2020.
Interrupted work practices impacted by COVID-19
The Department is continuing to work through its FOI case load as quickly
as possible. However, the Department is and will continue to experience an
interruption in the way it will be able to manage FOI requests.
As you are likely to be aware, COVID-19 (Coronavirus) has been declared a
pandemic by the World Health Organisation.
As the Department focuses its efforts on managing the impact of COVID-19
on its critical services and employees, other non-critical services may
not be delivered within expected timeframes. It is possible that during
this time, business areas that would ordinarily have capacity to undertake
searches and assist in the processing of FOI requests may not be readily
available to provide that assistance. This may have an impact on the
manner and timeframe in which the Department can process FOI requests.
We apologise for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience and
cooperation during this period.
Request for an extension of time
To help ensure the Department can manage its FOI functions during this
time, we will require additional time to process your FOI request.
The Department seeks your agreement under section 15AA of the FOI Act to
extend the timeframe for the processing of your request by 30 days. This
would extend the due date for your request to 31 August 2020.
It would assist the Department in managing its FOI caseload if you could
provide a response to this request by close of business, Wednesday 8 July
2020.
If agreed, the Department is required to provide your name and contact
details to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
for its records.
Please note that if you do not agree to the extension of time and the
Department is of the view that additional time is still required, we may
need to seek an extension of time from the OAIC under:
• section 15AB of the FOI Act (due to it being complex or
voluminous), or
• section 15AC (where the Department has been unable to meet
the statutory timeframe to finalise your request).
We will advise you if we intend to or have sought any extensions of time
from the OAIC.
If you wish to discuss this matter further, please do not hesitate to
contact us through the details below.
Removal of non-SES staff details for more efficient decision making
To allow for more efficient decision making, the Department will remove
all non-SES staff names and contact details from documents falling within
the scope of your request. This will not include those staff details that
have been provided to you, such as in correspondence sent by the staff
member to you.
The need to assess whether staff details should be withheld adds to the
decision making time. The Department is committed to processing as many
access requests as it can during the pandemic. This means ensuring
requests are specific and that they allow for more efficient decision
making.
On this basis, unless you tell us otherwise, we will assume that these
staff details are excluded from the scope of your request and they will be
redacted under section 22 of the FOI Act; as being irrelevant to your
request.
When the processing period may be extended or suspended
As noted above, there are times when the timeframe for processing your
request might be extended by an additional 30 days. This can occur where
an extension of time has been agreed to by yourself under section 15AA of
the FOI Act or where the OAIC has granted an extension of time under
sections 15AB or 15AC of the FOI Act.
In addition, if documents you seek contain information of third parties
and the Department is of the view that is practical to consult with the
third parties, then the Department will be afforded an additional 30 days
to undertake that consolation process (see sections 15(6), 26A, 27 and 27A
of the FOI Act).
The Department will advise you if a third party consultation process is
required and of the revised due date for your request to be finalised by.
Additionally, there are occasions where the time to process your request
may be suspended. This will usually take place if a practical refusal
consultation process takes place (section 24AB of the FOI Act) or if a
charges notice is issued to process your request (section 29 of the FOI
Act). If the Department decides that either of these apply to your
request, the Department will notify you.
Communication with you
The FOI Act requires that you provide us with an address which we can send
notices to. You have advised your electronic address is
[FOI #6450 email]. We will send all notices and
correspondence to this address. Please advise us 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.
FOI Disclosure log – Publication of documents released under the FOI Act
Please note that information released under the FOI Act may be published
in a disclosure log on the Department’s website at
https://www.dva.gov.au/about-us/overview....
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.
When a decision is provided to you, the Department will advise if the
documents released to you will be published on the Department’s FOI
Disclosure log.
Contacting us about your FOI request
We will email again when the Department has more information. Should you
have any enquiries concerning this matter, please send an email to
[email address]
Further information on FOI processing can be found at the website of the
OAIC at https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor....
Yours sincerely
Molly (Position Number 62213164)
Legal Officer
Information Law Section
Legal Services and Audit Branch
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
t 1800 555 254 | e [1][email address] | [2]www.dva.gov.au
p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601
[3]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0
P Please consider the environment before printing this email
[4]cid:image001.png@01D32593.9CC39540The Department acknowledges the
Traditional Owners of the land throughout Australia and their continuing
connection to country, sea and community. We pay our respect to all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their cultures and to their
elders past and present.
IMPORTANT: This document contains legal advice and may be subject to legal
professional privilege. Unless it is waived or lost, legal professional
privilege is a rule of law that, in part, provides that the client need
not disclose confidential communications between a legal practitioner and
client. To keep this privilege, the purpose and content of this advice
must only be disclosed to persons who have a need to know and on the basis
that those persons also keep it confidential.
You should consider this advice and take it into account when forming a
decision on how best to proceed. If you decide to adopt a position that
does not align with this advice, you should not state that DVA Legal
Services & Audit Branch has cleared or endorsed a particular position.
Dear INFORMATION.LAW,
The information I am seeking in this FOI request should form part of regular reporting to senior management and therefore should not require the additional time you are seeking.
As a measure of goodwill and with the current pandemic we are all facing I am in this instance prepared to grant the extension you request.
Having said that I trust this will not be an excuse to wait until the end of August to finalize my FOI request.
Yours sincerely,
Alan ASHMORE
Dear Mr Ashmore
I refer to your FOI request 36781 as made in the following terms:
The percentage of high impact errors, (HIE), by each quarter in 2019/2020
for the following:
: MRCA Initial Liability Claims,
: DRCA Initial Liability Claims,
: MRCA Permanent Impairment, and
: DRCA Permanent Impairment.
I request that each of the above categories be further broken up to
include the following:
: Number of cases checked.
: Total number of work elements.
: Number of work elements with HIE.
: HIE correctness rate, and
: Average work elements per case to one decimal point.
I have consulted with the Department’s Client’s Benefits Division (CBD) in
relation to your request. CBD have advised that the Department has not yet
finalised this data for the 2019/2020 period. CBD expect this data to be
finalised in or around September 2020.
We kindly ask that you consider withdrawing your request at this time,
noting that the requested data is unavailable at this time. Unlike your
other similar requests, we are unable to create a document for you, as the
data is not yet available.
Please confirm whether you agree to withdraw your request by return email
by COB 21 July 2020.
Kind regards,
Molly (Position Number 62213164)
Legal Officer
Information Law Section
Legal Services and Audit Branch
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
t 1800 555 254 | e [1][email address] | [2]www.dva.gov.au
p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601
[3]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0
P Please consider the environment before printing this email
[4]cid:image001.png@01D32593.9CC39540The Department acknowledges the
Traditional Owners of the land throughout Australia and their continuing
connection to country, sea and community. We pay our respect to all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their cultures and to their
elders past and present.
From: INFORMATION.LAW
Sent: Friday, 3 July 2020 7:10 PM
To: '[FOI #6450 email]'
Cc: INFORMATION.LAW
Subject: FOI 36781 - Your Freedom of Information Request - Response to EOT
request by 8.07.2020 [SEC=OFFICIAL]
Dear Mr Ashmore
Acknowledgement of your Freedom of Information (FOI) Request
I refer to your request for access to documents held by the Department of
Veterans’ Affairs (Department) under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(Cth) (FOI Act).
Your request was received by the Department on 2 July 2020 and was made in
the following terms:
The percentage of high impact errors, (HIE), by each quarter in 2019/2020
for the following:
: MRCA Initial Liability Claims,
: DRCA Initial Liability Claims,
: MRCA Permanent Impairment, and
: DRCA Permanent Impairment.
I request that each of the above categories be further broken up to
include the following:
: Number of cases checked.
: Total number of work elements.
: Number of work elements with HIE.
: HIE correctness rate, and
: Average work elements per case to one decimal point.
The Department has 30 days to finalise your request. The 30 day statutory
timeframe commenced the day after your request was received by the
Department.
Ordinarily you should expect a decision from the Department by Wednesday,
3 August 2020.
Interrupted work practices impacted by COVID-19
The Department is continuing to work through its FOI case load as quickly
as possible. However, the Department is and will continue to experience an
interruption in the way it will be able to manage FOI requests.
As you are likely to be aware, COVID-19 (Coronavirus) has been declared a
pandemic by the World Health Organisation.
As the Department focuses its efforts on managing the impact of COVID-19
on its critical services and employees, other non-critical services may
not be delivered within expected timeframes. It is possible that during
this time, business areas that would ordinarily have capacity to undertake
searches and assist in the processing of FOI requests may not be readily
available to provide that assistance. This may have an impact on the
manner and timeframe in which the Department can process FOI requests.
We apologise for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience and
cooperation during this period.
Request for an extension of time
To help ensure the Department can manage its FOI functions during this
time, we will require additional time to process your FOI request.
The Department seeks your agreement under section 15AA of the FOI Act to
extend the timeframe for the processing of your request by 30 days. This
would extend the due date for your request to 31 August 2020.
It would assist the Department in managing its FOI caseload if you could
provide a response to this request by close of business, Wednesday 8 July
2020.
If agreed, the Department is required to provide your name and contact
details to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
for its records.
Please note that if you do not agree to the extension of time and the
Department is of the view that additional time is still required, we may
need to seek an extension of time from the OAIC under:
• section 15AB of the FOI Act (due to it being complex or voluminous), or
• section 15AC (where the Department has been unable to meet the statutory
timeframe to finalise your request).
We will advise you if we intend to or have sought any extensions of time
from the OAIC.
If you wish to discuss this matter further, please do not hesitate to
contact us through the details below.
Removal of non-SES staff details for more efficient decision making
To allow for more efficient decision making, the Department will remove
all non-SES staff names and contact details from documents falling within
the scope of your request. This will not include those staff details that
have been provided to you, such as in correspondence sent by the staff
member to you.
The need to assess whether staff details should be withheld adds to the
decision making time. The Department is committed to processing as many
access requests as it can during the pandemic. This means ensuring
requests are specific and that they allow for more efficient decision
making.
On this basis, unless you tell us otherwise, we will assume that these
staff details are excluded from the scope of your request and they will be
redacted under section 22 of the FOI Act; as being irrelevant to your
request.
When the processing period may be extended or suspended
As noted above, there are times when the timeframe for processing your
request might be extended by an additional 30 days. This can occur where
an extension of time has been agreed to by yourself under section 15AA of
the FOI Act or where the OAIC has granted an extension of time under
sections 15AB or 15AC of the FOI Act.
In addition, if documents you seek contain information of third parties
and the Department is of the view that is practical to consult with the
third parties, then the Department will be afforded an additional 30 days
to undertake that consolation process (see sections 15(6), 26A, 27 and 27A
of the FOI Act).
The Department will advise you if a third party consultation process is
required and of the revised due date for your request to be finalised by.
Additionally, there are occasions where the time to process your request
may be suspended. This will usually take place if a practical refusal
consultation process takes place (section 24AB of the FOI Act) or if a
charges notice is issued to process your request (section 29 of the FOI
Act). If the Department decides that either of these apply to your
request, the Department will notify you.
Communication with you
The FOI Act requires that you provide us with an address which we can send
notices to. You have advised your electronic address is
[5][FOI #6450 email]. We will send all notices
and correspondence to this address. Please advise us 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.
FOI Disclosure log – Publication of documents released under the FOI Act
Please note that information released under the FOI Act may be published
in a disclosure log on the Department’s website at
[6]https://www.dva.gov.au/about-us/overview....
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.
When a decision is provided to you, the Department will advise if the
documents released to you will be published on the Department’s FOI
Disclosure log.
Contacting us about your FOI request
We will email again when the Department has more information. Should you
have any enquiries concerning this matter, please send an email to
[7][email address]
Further information on FOI processing can be found at the website of the
OAIC at [8]https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor....
Yours sincerely
Molly (Position Number 62213164)
Legal Officer
Information Law Section
Legal Services and Audit Branch
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
t 1800 555 254 | e [9][email address] | [10]www.dva.gov.au
p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601
[11]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0
P Please consider the environment before printing this email
[12]cid:image001.png@01D32593.9CC39540The Department acknowledges the
Traditional Owners of the land throughout Australia and their continuing
connection to country, sea and community. We pay our respect to all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their cultures and to their
elders past and present.
IMPORTANT: This document contains legal advice and may be subject to legal
professional privilege. Unless it is waived or lost, legal professional
privilege is a rule of law that, in part, provides that the client need
not disclose confidential communications between a legal practitioner and
client. To keep this privilege, the purpose and content of this advice
must only be disclosed to persons who have a need to know and on the basis
that those persons also keep it confidential.
You should consider this advice and take it into account when forming a
decision on how best to proceed. If you decide to adopt a position that
does not align with this advice, you should not state that DVA Legal
Services & Audit Branch has cleared or endorsed a particular position.
Dear INFORMATION.LAW,
I am replying to your correspondence of 15 July 2020 requesting I withdraw my FOI request pertaining to a breakdown of DVA’s High Impact Errors for each quarter of 2019/20 and in 4 categories.
I note the following, namely:
: I agreed to a 30-day extension in good faith due in part to Covid19 and believe you are
now trying to take advantage of my goodwill.
: On the same day I lodged an FOI request seeking statistical information from another
Government Department who didn’t play the Covid19 card.
: DVA’s High Impact Error rate for 2018-19 was many times over the target figure and I am
concerned your request is a ploy to delay probable damaging results.
: Full statistics of DVA’s performance as contained in the 2018-19 Annual Report was signed
off in a covering letter by Liz Cosson to Minister Chester on 8 August 2019. Therefore, the
information I requested, for each quarter of 2019-20, should easily be provided by the
extended date of 30 August 2020.
Accordingly, I do NOT agree to withdraw my request. Failure to provide the FOI request in full by the extended date of 30 August 2020 will leave me with no alternative but to lodge a formal complaint with a copy to Liz Cosson.
Yours sincerely,
Alan ASHMORE
Dear Mr Ashmore,
Please find attached a decision on your FOI request.
Kind Regards,
Information Law Section
Legal Services and Audit Branch
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
t 1800 555 254 | e [email address] | www.dva.gov.au
p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601
Please consider the environment before printing this email
Dear Department of Veterans' Affairs,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of my FOI request .
This is a most disappointing response as this request was identical to one made 12 months earlier for the 2018-19 financial year. On 29 July 2019 I received the requested information for the first three quarters.
I later lodged an FOI request for the final quarter of 2018-19, a request that was completed in full.
I find it unacceptable that the same information requested under FOI can be provided inside the required timelines last year, yet, this year, you refuse to release the same information.
I also note, ‘’the relevant business area advised that they are currently in the process of checking cases and compiling data for annual reporting requirements and that information will not be available until later on in 2020.”
May I respectively suggest the comment about, “checking cases and compiling data for annual reporting requirements…” could well be untrue. I say this as DVA’s Annual Report to the Minister was signed off by the Secretary and others on 2 August 2018, (for 17-18), and 8 August 2019, (for 18-19). I again note your refusal was dated 31 August 2020. I trust this is not game playing on your part.
I request this matter be finalized in full by no later than 30 September 2020. Failure to do so will leave me with no alternative but to write to the Minister and send it via my Federal MP.
Please note that earlier today I lodged a formal complaint about this FOI request that you refused.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/h...
Yours faithfully,
Alan ASHMORE
Dear Mr Ashmore,
I refer to your below request for an Internal Review received on 10
September 2020 of the Department’s FOI decision 36781.
I note that sections 54C and 54D of the [1]Freedom of Information Act 1982
(FOI Act), requires that the Department finalise a decision for an
Internal Review matter within 30 days of receiving a request for an
Internal Review.
The Department will process your Internal Review in accordance with its
obligations under the FOI Act. We will work towards finalising a decision
by 12 October 2020.
Please note that the Department’s reference for number for this Internal
Review is FOI 38143.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Kind regards,
Famida (Position Number 62212449)
Information Access Officer
Information Law Section
Legal Services and Audit Branch
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
t 1800 555 254 | e [2][email address] | [3]www.dva.gov.au
p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601
[4]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0
P Please consider the environment before printing this email
[5]cid:image001.png@01D32593.9CC39540The Department acknowledges the
Traditional Owners of the land throughout Australia and their continuing
connection to country, sea and community. We pay our respect to all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their cultures and to their
elders past and present.
IMPORTANT: This document contains legal advice and may be subject to legal
professional privilege. Unless it is waived or lost, legal professional
privilege is a rule of law that, in part, provides that the client need
not disclose confidential communications between a legal practitioner and
client. To keep this privilege, the purpose and content of this advice
must only be disclosed to persons who have a need to know and on the basis
that those persons also keep it confidential.
You should consider this advice and take it into account when forming a
decision on how best to proceed. If you decide to adopt a position that
does not align with this advice, you should not state that DVA Legal
Services & Audit Branch has cleared or endorsed a particular position.
Dear Mr Ashmore,
Please see attached the Department’s response to Internal Review Matter
38143.
Kind regards,
Famida (Position Number 62212449)
Information Access Officer
Information Law Section
Legal Services and Audit Branch
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
[1][email address] | [2]www.dva.gov.au
[3]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0
P Please consider the environment before printing this email
Dear INFORMATION.LAW,
On 12 October 2020 you advised of a deferment of releasing the requested information under:
Section 21 Deferment of Access
16. The document created under section 17 of the FOI Act is an extract from the Department’s
Annual Report, which is not yet publicly available.
As the Annual report is NOW available I ask that you finalize this FOI request as a matter of urgency. I also note that most of the information I requested did not form part of the Annual Report.
Thanks in advance.
.
Yours sincerely,
Alan ASHMORE
** This is an automated response. Please do not reply to this email **
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Thank you for your email. The Department will take all reasonable efforts
to respond to your email and process your request.
Please note that due the threat of COVID-19 (Coronavirus), the Department
is experiencing a diversion of resources that are critical to managing
Australia’s response. This means we may not be able to process your
request within the expected timeframe and where needed, will be seeking
extensions of time to manage requests and may need to consult with you if
your request is not clear or is for a large and unmanageable number of
documents. The Department remains committed to ensuring it can process as
many information access requests as it can during the pandemic. We ask for
your assistance by only making requests where they are of a priority and
to ensure those requests are as specific as possible.
We apologise for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding,
cooperation and patience during this difficult time for all Australians.
More detailed messaging can be found on the Department’s website at
[1]https://www.dva.gov.au/newsroom/latest-n....
Kind regards,
Information Law Section
Department of Veterans' Affairs
References
Visible links
1. https://www.dva.gov.au/newsroom/latest-n...
Dear Department of Veterans' Affairs,
I write further to my 22 October 2020 message following the release of the Annual Report the day prior. I asked, ‘that you finalize this FOI request as a matter of urgency.’
I have drafted an email to the Minister and prepared a formal complaint as to why you have not released the requested information.
I urge you to quickly finalize this FOI as it is almost one week since the release of the Annual Report.
Unless I have received this FOI request in full by 1700 hrs on Wednesday 28 October 2020, I will hit the send on these emails to the Minister and complaints.
Yours faithfully,
Alan ASHMORE
** This is an automated response. Please do not reply to this email **
Thank you for contacting the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
Your email has been received and will be actioned shortly.
National Information Access Processing
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
Phone: 1800 555 254
[1]www.dva.gov.au/about-us/our-business-reporting/freedom-information
References
Visible links
1. http://www.dva.gov.au/about-us/our-busin...
Dear Mr Ashmore,
Further to previous correspondence on this request, please find attached
the document created for your Internal Review matter 38143.
Kind regards,
Famida (Position Number 62212449)
Information Access Officer
Information Law Section
Legal Services and Audit Branch
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
t 1800 555 254 | e [1][email address] | [2]www.dva.gov.au
p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601
[3]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0
P Please consider the environment before printing this email
** This is an automated response. Please do not reply to this email **
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Thank you for your email. The Department will take all reasonable efforts
to respond to your email and process your request.
Please note that due the threat of COVID-19 (Coronavirus), the Department
is experiencing a diversion of resources that are critical to managing
Australia’s response. This means we may not be able to process your
request within the expected timeframe and where needed, will be seeking
extensions of time to manage requests and may need to consult with you if
your request is not clear or is for a large and unmanageable number of
documents. The Department remains committed to ensuring it can process as
many information access requests as it can during the pandemic. We ask for
your assistance by only making requests where they are of a priority and
to ensure those requests are as specific as possible.
We apologise for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding,
cooperation and patience during this difficult time for all Australians.
More detailed messaging can be found on the Department’s website at
[1]https://www.dva.gov.au/newsroom/latest-n....
Kind regards,
Information Law Section
Department of Veterans' Affairs
References
Visible links
1. https://www.dva.gov.au/newsroom/latest-n...