Differences in funding amounts for phone vs in-person plan meetings
Dear National Disability Insurance Agency,
I am seeking to know the statistical difference in total funding amounts given to a participant when they meet with a planner in person vs via phone/email/video call.
Yours sincerely,
Gabriel
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Kind regards
Freedom of Information Team
Complaints Management & FOI Branch
General Counsel Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
E [11][NDIA request email]
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11. mailto:[NDIA request email]
Dear Gabriel
Freedom of Information Request: Acknowledgement
Thank you for your request of 19 October 2024 made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), for information held by the National
Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
Scope of your Request
You have requested access to:
“ I am seeking to know the statistical difference in total funding amounts
given to a participant when they meet with a planner in person vs via
phone/email/video call.”
Irrelevant Information
Section 22 of the FOI Act allows an Agency to redact information from
documents if that information would reasonably be regarded as irrelevant
to a request for access.
Given the nature of your request, it does not seem that NDIA staff
members’ surnames and contact details would be relevant to you. Can you
please send me a reply email confirming that such details are irrelevant
to your request for access?
Processing Timeframes
In accordance with section 15(5)(b) of the FOI Act, a 30-day statutory
period for processing your request commenced from 20 October 2024. This
30-day period expires on 18 November 2024.
The 30-day period can be extended in a number of ways, including with your
agreement.
Unfortunately, it is currently taking us a little longer than 30 days to
process FOI requests. I am therefore seeking your agreement to a 30-day
extension of time under section 15AA of the FOI Act. If you agree to this
extension, the new due date for us to decide on your request will be 18
December 2024.
If you do not agree and we are unable to process your request within the
30-day period expiring on 18 November 2024, we will be deemed to have
refused your request and you will not have a right to seek internal review
of that decision. You will, however, retain your right to external review
by the Office of Australian Information Commissioner.
Please let us know if you agree by 18 November 2024.
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Regards
Mykal
Freedom of Information Officer
Complaints Management & FOI Branch
General Counsel Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
E [2][NDIA request email]
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The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians 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 past, present
and emerging.
[5]Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags graphic
Dear Mykal,
I accept the 30 day time extension and removal of NDIA staff surnames and contact details. Thank you for your assistance.
Kind regards
Gabriel O
Dear Gabriel
Thank you for your request for information.
Please find attached correspondence in relation to your request. If you
require this in a different format, please let us know.
Please contact us at [1][NDIA request email] if you have any questions or
require help.
Thank you.
Kind regards
Cooper (CHH674)
Team Leader/Senior FOI Officer
Complaints Management & FOI Branch
General Counsel Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
E [2][NDIA request email]
[3]NDIA logo
The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians 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 past, present
and emerging.
Stuart left an annotation ()
Just to see if the meeting method is even recorded, I would start really simple by asking for the total number of plan meetings, the number of plan meetings conducted in-person, and the number of plan meetings conducted remotely (by phone, microsoft teams, email etc) between x - x dates. And if that was provided successfully, then I would make a follow up request trying to gather comparison data.
I was asked to change the scope of my request for similar reasons to you and I think the explanation I was given was more clear (sort of). It seems like they had an issue when I was asking to compare to things that they don't normally compare? https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/n...
Reading my consultation request again now I'm still not totally sold on why some of this would have been an issue, and we will still have to wait and see if they actually provide the data from the revised scope they agreed to.
It might also be difficult to meaningfully compare funding amounts between in-person vs remote planning anyway, because there are so many other variables you'd need to control for. Like are people with higher support needs more likely to do remote or in person meetings? Is there a regional vs metropolitan difference? And so on.
It's an interesting question though. Maybe it would be better to compare plan satisfaction rates for in-person vs remote, by tracking whether a complaint is filed after, or if an internal review request is made following the plan meeting. But I think you'd run into the same issue with them rejecting the foi request as a practical refusal.
Gabriel left an annotation ()
Anyone know if there is a way to get the NDIS to put this information together? They say they don't have it, which is expected. Is there any process to make them go through and get these statistics?