NDIA Accountability Project

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Freedom of Information request — Notice of Decision

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Freedom of Information request — Notice of Decision

Thank you for your correspondence of 17 January 2025 (your correspondence), seeking access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to documents held by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).

The purpose of this letter is to provide you with a decision on your request.

Scope of your request

You have requested access to the following documents:

“1. The number of children on NDIS where only one parent is an NDIS participant.
2. The number of children on NDIS where both parents are NDIS participants.
3. For families identified in points 1 and 2, how many have an NDIS complex case manager (or a similar role) assigned to assist with planning meetings, building plans for all family members, and managing the delegation/funding approval process?

If possible, I would appreciate the data being broken down by state or territory.”

Processing Timeframes

The FOI Act provides 30 calendar days for the processing of an FOI request after it is received. As your valid FOI request was received on 17 January 2025, the original due date for your request was 16 February 2025.

On 23 January 2025, the FOI Team wrote to you requesting your agreement to a 30-day extension of time under section 15AA of the FOI Act. As we did not receive a response from you, the original due date still stands.

Despite this, I have continued to process your application. I apologise for the delay and confirm that you retain your right to seek external review of this decision. Details are set out in Attachment C to this letter.

Searches conducted

Searches were conducted by the following business area for documents relevant to the scope of your FOI request:

  • Analytics, Data and Actuarial Division

Section 17(1)(c) of the FOI Act provides that an agency can produce a written document containing the requested information, by the use of a computer or other equipment that is

Decision

I am the authorised officer pursuant to section 23(1) of the FOI Act to make a decision on this FOI request.

I have decided to:

  • Grant access in full to 1 document

In addition, I can advise no documents were located during searches relevant to:

3. For families identified in points 1 and 2, how many have an NDIS complex case manager (or a similar role) assigned to assist with planning meetings, building plans for all family members, and managing the delegation/funding approval process?

Therefore, I have also decided to refuse access to information relevant to the above scope pursuant to 24A of the FOI act on the basis that documents cannot be located or do not exist.

On 27 January 2025, you confirmed via email that you had no objections to surnames and contact details of NDIS staff being considered irrelevant to the scope of your request.

The decision in relation to each document is detailed in the schedule of documents at Attachment A.

A statement of reasons for this decision are set out in Attachment B.

Rights of review Your rights to seek a review of my decision, or lodge a complaint, are set out at Attachment C.

Should you have any enquiries concerning this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me by email at foi@ndis.gov.au.

Yours sincerely,

Patrick (PHO293) Senior Freedom of Information Officer Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch Reviews and Information Release Division

Attachment A

Schedule of Documents for FOI 24/25-1124

Document number Page number Description Access Decision Comments
1 1-2 Section 17 Document – Data and Statistics FULL ACCESS Document created under section 17 of the FOI Act

Attachment B

Statement of Reasons

REFUSAL UNDER 24A

I have refused access to some of the information you requested under section 24A of the FOI Act on the basis that documents are unlocatable or do not exist.

Relevant Law

Under the FOI Act, a person has a right to be given access to documents of an agency. However, the right of access is subject to limitations, including grounds for refusal of access. Section 24A of the FOI Act states that an agency may refuse a request for access to a document if all reasonable steps have been taken to find the document and the agency is satisfied that the document cannot be found or does not exist.

Scope of Request

No documents were located during searches relevant to:

    1. For families identified in points 1 and 2, how many have an NDIS complex case manager (or a similar role) assigned to assist with planning meetings, building plans for all family members, and managing the delegation/funding approval process?

Searches for Documents

After reviewing the scope of your request, I identified the need to make enquiries with the NDIA’s Analytics, Data and Actuarial (ADA) Division for documents relevant to your scope.

ADA advised that they were unable to generate data for point 3 of your request because complex case managers are assigned to individual participants and not families. Data is held that shows if one or more family member is part of the complex case stream, but data is not available to show if they share the same case manager.

Decision

Therefore, based on the search results from the relevant business areas and consultation with subject matter experts, I am satisfied that documents relevant to the scope of your request cannot be located do not exist. I am also satisfied that a document relevant to point 3 of your request cannot be created under section 17 of the FOI Act.

I therefore refuse access to the information under section 24A of the FOI Act on the basis that the information cannot be found or does not exist.

ATTACHMENT C

Your review rights

As this matter was a deemed refusal, internal review of this decision is not an option. However, if you have concern with any aspect of this decision, please contact the NDIA FOI team by email foi@ndis.gov.au or by post:

  • Freedom of Information Section
  • Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch
  • Reviews and Information Release Division
  • National Disability Insurance Agency
    • GPO Box 700
    • CANBERRA ACT 2601

Review by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

The FOI Act gives you the right to apply to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) to seek a review of this decision.

If you wish to have the decision reviewed by the OAIC, you may apply for the review, in writing, or by using the online merits review form available on the OAIC’s website at www.oaic.gov.au, within 60 days of receipt of this letter.

Applications for review can be lodged with the OAIC in the following ways:

Complaints to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner or the Commonwealth Ombudsman

You may complain to either the Commonwealth Ombudsman or the OAIC about actions taken by the NDIA in relation to your request. The Ombudsman will consult with the OAIC before investigating a complaint about the handling of an FOI request.

Your complaint to the OAIC can be directed to the contact details identified above. Your complaint to the Ombudsman can be directed to:

Your complaint should be in writing and should set out the grounds on which it is considered that the actions taken in relation to the request should be investigated