Outsourcing of Centrelink Call Centres
Dear Department of Human Services,
I note in a Sydney Morning Herald newspaper article dated 30 October 2018, there is mention of a $51m trial to outsource Centrelink call centre services to Serco.
Since then, the department has proceeded with a large call centre outsourcing project to various companies based on the report outlining the findings of the trial, and from which the decision to outsource was made.
I would like to request under the FOI Act any documents (briefings, correspondence etc) or emails which:
1. Outline the reasons for outsourcing Centrelink call centre functions.
2. Provide details of the costings and any savings for outsourcing Centrelink call centre functions.
3. Provides details of any risk factors in outsourcing Centrelink call centre functions.
I do not include the Serco Trial report in this request as the release of that document is under a separate internal review process with your department in relation to my earlier FOI request.
Thank you in advance for processing this request.
Yours sincerely,
Evelyn Doyle
Dear Ms Doyle
Please find attached correspondence in relation to your freedom of
information request.
Regards
Freedom of Information Team
Employment Law and Freedom of Information Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
[1][email address]
[2]cid:image001.png@01D504BA.46C15080
**********************************************************************
IMPORTANT: This e-mail is for the use of the intended recipient only and
may contain information that is confidential, commercially valuable and/or
subject to legal or parliamentary privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient you are notified that any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
this information is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you
have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately
and delete all electronic and hard copies of this transmission together
with any attachments. Please consider the environment before printing this
e-mail
**********************************************************************
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
Dear FOI Legal Team
Thank you. I look forward to receiving the documents.
Yours sincerely,
Evelyn Doyle
Dear Ms Doyle
Please find attached correspondence in relation to your freedom of
information request.
Kind regards
Robert
Freedom of Information Practitioner
Freedom of Information Team
Employment Law and Freedom of Information Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
[1][email address]
[2]cid:image001.png@01D505BA.E8920FC0
**********************************************************************
IMPORTANT: This e-mail is for the use of the intended recipient only and
may contain information that is confidential, commercially valuable and/or
subject to legal or parliamentary privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient you are notified that any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
this information is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you
have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately
and delete all electronic and hard copies of this transmission together
with any attachments. Please consider the environment before printing this
e-mail
**********************************************************************
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
Dear FOI Legal Team
Thank you for your letter requesting I revise and narrow down my request Ref FOI LEX 43983 to facilitate processing.
I seek all briefings provided by the Department of Human Services to the Minister for Human Services as follows:
1. All briefings In relation to advice provided about the decision to outsource Centrelink call centre function to private providers (private sector).
2. All briefings which outline the findings of the Serco Trial Report by KPMG) in relation to the decision to outsource ie. the arguments for outsourcing based on the trial.
3. All briefings which outline the risks of outsourcing Centrelink call service functions to the private sector.
Please limit the search to briefings to between 1 January 2018 to 30 November 2018.
It is most likely that the scope covered in all three parts of this request will be present together in most of the briefings which should make processing easier.
My query stems from the Sydney Morning article as referred to in the first version of the request.
Yours sincerely,
Evelyn Doyle
Dear Ms Doyle
I confirm that your revised request was received on 10 May 2019 and, therefore, the consultation period ended on that date. In line with section 24AB(8) of the FOI Act your request is now due by 31 May 2019.
Kind regards
Robert
Freedom of Information Practitioner
Freedom of Information Team
Employment Law and Freedom of Information Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
[email address]
IMPORTANT: This e-mail is for the use of the intended recipient only and may contain information that is confidential, commercially valuable and/or subject to legal or parliamentary privilege. If you are not the intended recipient you are notified that any review, re-transmission, disclosure, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately and delete all electronic and hard copies of this transmission together with any attachments. Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail **********************************************************************
Dear Ms Doyle
Please find attached correspondence in relation to your freedom of
information request.
Kind regards
Robert
Freedom of Information Practitioner
Freedom of Information Team
Employment Law and Freedom of Information Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
[1][email address]
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
Dear FOI Legal Team
Thank you for your letter about your intention to refuse this request on the basis of no documents found.
It would be inconceivable that there are no briefings between the department and the Minister about the outsourcing of Centrelink call centre functions. On that basis I infer that the issue is with the date range.
May I please request the contact number of the FOI team so I am able to discuss the request further to assist me in narrowing the focus of my request (or to make a new request if that is preferable to the department).
Thank you in advance.
Yours sincerely,
Evelyn Doyle
Evelyn Doyle left an annotation ()
I am preparing a new FOI request assisted by information from a DHS FOI officer which will broaden the date range and add some other useful search terms for PDMS users in the agency. Hopefully some documents will fall within the revised scope.