Changes to calculating critical error rates
Dear Department of Veterans' Affairs,
BACKGROUND:
In relation to DVA calculating their error rates, page 113 of DVA’s 2016/17 Annual report said in a note to these figures.
‘New measure for 2016–17. The new measures have been established to be more representative of the activity undertaken.’
WHAT INFORMATION AM I SEEKING?
Each and every document, email, minutes, correspondence etc. that were behind the decision to change the reporting of errors including the reasons and justification for changing and establishing these new measures.
Please note redaction of full email addresses of staff is fine with me.
Thanking you in anticipation,
Yours faithfully,
ALAN ASHMORE
Dear Mr Ashmore,
Acknowledgement of FOI Request – FOI 23794
I refer to your request to access information held by our Department under
the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act). The Department received
your request on 1 August 2018. In accordance with section 15(5)(b) of the
FOI Act, the Department has 30 days to process your request. As such, a
decision on your request is due by 31 August 2018.
If you have any questions about your FOI matter, please contact us using
the following details:
Post: Legal Services & Assurance, Department of Veterans’ Affairs
GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601
Facsimile: (02) 6289 6337
Email: [1][email address]
In all communications please quote reference FOI 23794.
Kind Regards,
Information Law | Legal Services & Assurance Branch
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
GPO Box 9998 Canberra ACT 2601
E: [2][email address]
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Good afternoon Mr Ashmore,
FOI 23794 – Decision and Statement of Reasons
Please find attached the decision and documents in response to your
request received by the Department on 1 August 2018. Information about
your review rights, should you wish to exercise them, are included in the
attached decision.
Kind Regards,
Information Law Team
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
E: [1][email address] | W: [2]www.dva.gov.au
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Dear Information Law Team,
I reply in response to the documentation you sent on 31 August 2018 regarding my FOI request.
I note almost all of the documentation received is not relevant to my specific request as it relates almost entirely to the various timelines for all of DVA’s key performance indicators.
My FOI request was in relation to critical error rates only for MRCA and SRCA and is why I included Note 2 of Page 113 of DVA’s 2016-17 Annual Report that specifically relates to 1.6.6. Quality: Correctness Rate.
I have only received the following that is relevant to my FOI:
: Background information of the requirement for DVA to review all its performance indicators, and
: Information to ESORT of the total changes in the calculation of many key performance indicators. A small part of that document and relevant to my FOI request, stated,
‘Quality assurance targets will be set at a ‘correctness rate’ rather than an error rate and will be more focused on outcomes for the client.’
Apart from the requirement to review DVA’s performance indicators and a single sentence advising ESORT of a change from error rate to correctness rate, my FOI request remains outstanding.
I accept I have received the background to the reasons why DVA have reviewed the reporting of their KPI’s, including critical error rates. What remains outstanding is the second part of my FOI request for each and every document, email, minute, correspondence etc., of:
‘the reasons and justification for changing and establishing these new measures (as it pertains to calculating critical error rates for MRCA and SRCA.)
Thanking you in anticipation,
Yours faithfully,
ALAN ASHMORE
Good morning Mr Ashmore,
FOI 23794
Thank you for the below email. I advise that your request was forwarded to the relevant business areas who were asked to provide all relevant documentation subject to your request. Documentation regarding your FOI request has been provided and your request responded to. If you seek an internal review of the decision, can you please specify that is what you seek.
Thank you.
Kind Regards,
Information Law Team
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
E: [email address] | W: www.dva.gov.au
-----Original Message-----
From: Alan ASHMORE [mailto:[FOI #4722 email]]
Sent: Monday, 10 September 2018 9:23 PM
To: INFORMATION.LAW <[email address]>
Subject: Re: FOI 23794 – Decision and Statement of Reasons [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Dear Information Law Team,
I reply in response to the documentation you sent on 31 August 2018 regarding my FOI request.
I note almost all of the documentation received is not relevant to my specific request as it relates almost entirely to the various timelines for all of DVA’s key performance indicators.
My FOI request was in relation to critical error rates only for MRCA and SRCA and is why I included Note 2 of Page 113 of DVA’s 2016-17 Annual Report that specifically relates to 1.6.6. Quality: Correctness Rate.
I have only received the following that is relevant to my FOI:
: Background information of the requirement for DVA to review all its performance indicators, and
: Information to ESORT of the total changes in the calculation of many key performance indicators. A small part of that document and relevant to my FOI request, stated,
‘Quality assurance targets will be set at a ‘correctness rate’ rather than an error rate and will be more focused on outcomes for the client.’
Apart from the requirement to review DVA’s performance indicators and a single sentence advising ESORT of a change from error rate to correctness rate, my FOI request remains outstanding.
I accept I have received the background to the reasons why DVA have reviewed the reporting of their KPI’s, including critical error rates. What remains outstanding is the second part of my FOI request for each and every document, email, minute, correspondence etc., of:
‘the reasons and justification for changing and establishing these new measures (as it pertains to calculating critical error rates for MRCA and SRCA.)
Thanking you in anticipation,
Yours faithfully,
ALAN ASHMORE
-----Original Message-----
Good afternoon Mr Ashmore,
FOI 23794 – Decision and Statement of Reasons
Please find attached the decision and documents in response to your request received by the Department on 1 August 2018. Information about your review rights, should you wish to exercise them, are included in the attached decision.
Kind Regards,
Information Law Team
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
E: [1][email address] | W: [2]www.dva.gov.au
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Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #4722 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:
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2. This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain confidential information
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please contact the sender and delete all copies of this email.
3. Any views expressed in this e-mail are those of the sender and are not
a statement of Australian Government Policy unless otherwise stated.
4. Electronic addresses published in this email are not conspicuous publications and DVA does not consent to the receipt of commercial electronic messages.
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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 Department of Veterans' Affairs's handling of my FOI request 'Changes to calculating critical error rates'.
At best what I have received is Attachment A, Outcome 1, that is a one paragraph brief highlighting the END result of the proposed changes to the calculation of DVA’s KPI’s including critical error rates.
I requested the specific details and specific reasons BEHIND DVA coming to and arriving at the decision it made including reasons on how these changes would be reported going forward.
That is why my initial FOI request of 28 June 2018 requested:
‘each and every document, email, minutes, correspondence etc. that were behind the decision to change the reporting of errors including the reasons and justification for changing and establishing these new measures.’
What DVA have failed to provide is all emails, minutes, correspondence etc. from the genesis of reviewing, considering various options, and how DVA came to the END decision to change the calculation and reporting of their high impact error rate from simply ‘error rate’ to ‘correctness rate’ for MRCA and SRCA. This would also include how the ‘correctness rate’ would be calculated.
I am requesting this internal review as I find it difficult to comprehend that DVA were unable to locate ANY documentation leading up to the END result of the proposed changes to the calculation of the critical error rates for MRCA and SRCA.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/c...
Yours faithfully,
Alan ASHMORE
Dear Alan,
Acknowledgement of FOI Internal Review Request – IR 24510
I refer to your request for internal review by our Department under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act). The Department received your
request on 16 September 2018. In accordance with section 54C(3) of the FOI
Act, the Department has 30 days to process your request. As such, a
decision on your request is due by 16 October 2018.
If you have any questions about your FOI matter, please contact us using
the following details:
Post: Legal Services & Assurance, Department of Veterans’ Affairs
GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601
Facsimile: (02) 6289 6337
Email: [1][email address]
In all communications please quote reference IR 24510.
Kind Regards,
Information Law Team
Information Law | Legal Services & Assurance Branch
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
GPO Box 9998 Canberra ACT 2601
E: [2][email address]
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please contact the sender and delete all copies of this email.
3. Any views expressed in this e-mail are those of the sender and are not
a statement of Australian Government Policy unless otherwise stated.
4. Electronic addresses published in this email are not conspicuous
publications and DVA does not consent to the receipt of commercial
electronic messages.
5. To unsubscribe from emails from the Department of Veterans' Affairs
(DVA) please go to
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2. mailto:[email address]
Good evening Mr Ashmore,
FOI 24510 – Internal Review – Decision and Statement of Reasons
I refer to your request for an internal review of FOI 23794, which was
received by the Department on 16 September 2018. Please find attached the
decision and documents in relation to your request.
Kind Regards,
Information Law Section | Legal Services and General Counsel Branch
Legal Assurance and Governance Division
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
E: [1][email address] | W: [2]www.dva.gov.au
[3]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0
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IMPORTANT
1. Before opening any attachments, please check for viruses.
2. This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain confidential
information
for the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient,
please contact the sender and delete all copies of this email.
3. Any views expressed in this e-mail are those of the sender and are not
a statement of Australian Government Policy unless otherwise stated.
4. Electronic addresses published in this email are not conspicuous
publications and DVA does not consent to the receipt of commercial
electronic messages.
5. To unsubscribe from emails from the Department of Veterans' Affairs
(DVA) please go to
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, and advise which mailing list you would like to unsubscribe from.
6. Finally, please do not remove this notice.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.dva.gov.au/
Verity Pane left an annotation ()
Dear Alan,
DVA take the position that once they have issued a decision, it is functus officio, which means that as a consequence of the decision being made, it cannot be revisited except by formal review (in this case internal review) and there is no further function for the delegate to perform.
Of course, the High Court in Bhardwaj has rejected any such blanket functus officio doctrine, and in reality delegates can revisit their original decisions under certain circumstances, such as a critical error in fact or other grounds, but that requires a mindset directed towards the objectives of the FOI Act, which DVA doesn’t have.
Therefore you are best off selecting the Internal Review hyperlink and stating that the original delegate did not conduct a search in accordance with the full scope, and thus committed an error in fact in his/her decision.
Regards
Verity