CDDA Processing History
Dear Department of Veterans' Affairs,
This is a written request (for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act) for documents. The documents sought may exist, or they may have to be created (s 17) from information held electronically (TRIM, etc).
Notices are to be given to the email address this request came from.
If the Department cannot satisfy all of the scope of the request, it is to assist the requester by satisfying as much as the scope as is possible, rather than applying the scope of the request too pedantically or narrowly. The request should be interpreted as extending to any document that might reasonably be taken to be included within the description of scope given.
A s 15(5)(a) acknowledgement is requested by Wednesday 7 October 2020, and a s 15(5)(b) decision (including any documents access has been given to) by Friday 23 October 2020. Any consultation request is to be made by Wednesday 7 October 2020 (given this is a reasonable period within which to have made preliminary enquiries internally, and that the Guidelines advise that any need for consultation is to be identified early).
If compiled under s 17 - the Department should be aware that compilation can only be refused where compilation would "substantially and unreasonably divert operations" to produce that document (and/or no computer is ordinarily available to retrieve the relevant information). Section 17 does not require that the computer system must retrieve, and format, the document completely automatically (that it must be an existing report template) - just that the information to be compiled must be able to be extracted (it can be copied and pasted into a document manually, for example).
The scope of my request is for a table showing, by financial year, for FY15/16 to FY19/20 inclusive, a list of CDDA claims received (for privacy reasons - to be numbered from 1 incrementally - rather than use names or reference numbers) giving the following details:
* Date received
* Date of decision on claim (if claim withdrawn, give date of withdrawal)
* Whether approved or refused/rejected or withdrawn
Sincerely,
Julie
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National Information Access Processing
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
Phone: 1800 555 254
[1]www.dva.gov.au/about-us/our-business-reporting/freedom-information
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Dear Department of Veterans' Affairs,
I noted from FOI 36785 that there were just over 30 CDDA applications made in FY2019/2020, which is more than I expected, so to reduce any burden on the Department, if the Department wishes, in lieu of FY15-16 to FY19-20 inclusive the scope timeframe may be adjusted so that only the last 150 decided or withdrawn CDDA applications are reported if that is lesser.
Again, only the date the CDDA application was received, the date the Department made decision on the CDDA claim (or date of withdrawal of CDDA claim), and whether it was approved/refused/withdrawn is the only information required to be provided.
Sincerely,
Julie
Dear Julie
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 23 September 2020 and was
made in the following terms:
“… The scope of my request is for a table showing, by financial year, for
FY15/16 to FY19/20 inclusive, a list of CDDA claims received (for privacy
reasons - to be numbered from 1 incrementally - rather than use names or
reference numbers) giving the following details:
* Date received
* Date of decision on claim (if claim withdrawn, give date of withdrawal)
* Whether approved or refused/rejected or withdrawn
I noted from FOI 36785 that there were just over 30 CDDA applications made
in FY2019/2020, which is more than I expected, so to reduce any burden on
the Department, if the Department wishes, in lieu of FY15-16 to FY19-20
inclusive the scope timeframe may be adjusted so that only the last 150
decided or withdrawn CDDA applications are reported if that is lesser.
Again, only the date the CDDA application was received, the date the
Department made decision on the CDDA claim (or date of withdrawal of CDDA
claim), and whether it was approved/refused/withdrawn is the only
information required to be provided…”
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 23 October
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.
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.
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
[1][FOI #6740 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
[2]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
[3][email address].
Further information on FOI processing can be found at the website of the
OAIC at [4]https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor....
Yours sincerely,
Famida (Position Number 62212449)
Information Access Officer
Information Law Section
Legal Services and Audit Branch
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
[5][email address] | [6]www.dva.gov.au
p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601
[7]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0
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Dear Julie,
Please see attached the decision and one (1) document in relation to your
request.
Kind Regards,
Tayla (Position Number 62217695)
Information Access Officer
Information Law Section
Legal Services and Audit Branch
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
T: 1800 555 254 | E: [1][email address]
A: GPO Box 9998, Canberra, ACT, 2601 | W: [2]www.dva.gov.au
[3]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0
P Please consider the environment before printing this email
From: INFORMATION.LAW
Sent: Friday, 25 September 2020 1:55 PM
To: '[FOI #6740 email]'
Cc: INFORMATION.LAW
Subject: Acknowledgement of your Freedom of Information (FOI) Request –
FOI 38335 [SEC=OFFICIAL]
Dear Julie
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 23 September 2020 and was
made in the following terms:
“… The scope of my request is for a table showing, by financial year, for
FY15/16 to FY19/20 inclusive, a list of CDDA claims received (for privacy
reasons - to be numbered from 1 incrementally - rather than use names or
reference numbers) giving the following details:
* Date received
* Date of decision on claim (if claim withdrawn, give date of withdrawal)
* Whether approved or refused/rejected or withdrawn
I noted from FOI 36785 that there were just over 30 CDDA applications made
in FY2019/2020, which is more than I expected, so to reduce any burden on
the Department, if the Department wishes, in lieu of FY15-16 to FY19-20
inclusive the scope timeframe may be adjusted so that only the last 150
decided or withdrawn CDDA applications are reported if that is lesser.
Again, only the date the CDDA application was received, the date the
Department made decision on the CDDA claim (or date of withdrawal of CDDA
claim), and whether it was approved/refused/withdrawn is the only
information required to be provided…”
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 23 October
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.
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.
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
[4][FOI #6740 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
[5]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
[6][email address].
Further information on FOI processing can be found at the website of the
OAIC at [7]https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor....
Yours sincerely,
Famida (Position Number 62212449)
Information Access Officer
Information Law Section
Legal Services and Audit Branch
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
[8][email address] | [9]www.dva.gov.au
p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601
[10]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0
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