FOI Disclosure Log

Documents relating to assessing applications for the National Redress Scheme.

This documentation contains material that may be distressing and confronting. We acknowledge sometimes words or images can cause distress or trigger traumatic memories for people, particularly survivors of past abuse, violence or childhood trauma. The Australian Government has funded Redress Support Services to provide free practical and emotional support to people. More information on Redress Support Services is available at: www.nationalredress.gov.au/support. Telephone assistance for general support is also available at any time through Beyond Blue 1300 224 636, Lifeline 13 11 14 and 1800 RESPECT at 1800 737 732.  They are in addition to the above mentioned Redress Support Services.

The department’s work from home policy.

Any document with the number of on-going NDIS external review clients supported by DSS-funded appeals advocates in 2019-20 financial year

Any document with the number of on-going NDIS external review clients supported by DSS-funded appeals advocates in 2020-21 financial year

I am undertaking a research project Regulation and Governance for Indigenous Welfare: Poverty Surveillance and its Alternatives (DE180100599). As part of this research, I am analysing regulation and governance issues with the Cashless Debit Card. I note that the 2018 Australian National Audit Office report on the CDC refers to CDC risk plans and risk management plans, and I request a copy of these plans under the FOI legislation to better inform my research on the CDC. 

I request a copy of the briefing document, and any supporting documents/attachments, provided to the decision maker/s to approve the $36 million to support disability employment and community participation under the Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) grants program announced on 13 April 2021.

In relation to the Department’s contract with the Boston Consulting Group as amended on 18 August 2020 (CN3676568-A2), the Department has told Senate Estimates that Boston Consulting Group provided:

• Two reports for the DES mid-term review: the draft and final review reports; and b.
• One report for the ESAt review.

In relation to the ESAt review, I note that on 28 October at Senate Estimates, official Catherine Rule stated that the report was “not secret”.

In relation to the mid-term review, I note the secretary of the department told Estimates on 29 October it “wasn’t a report to government”.

I request:

• the three reports listed above
• a copy of the relevant Request for Tender
• a copy of any briefing to the Departmental Secretary seeking views or clearance of the Request for Tender
• a copy of any industry briefings in relation to the tender, if one exists
• a copy of any briefings related to the first variation of the tender, which was valued at $880,000 and was for “further research”

Please provide us with a copy of:  

1. the tender and/or contract between:
   1. the former Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs; and
   2. Security & Technology Services (Norwest) Pty Ltd (also known as “Security and Technology Service (WA)”), which was for the period 22 October 2012 to 25 January 2013 and has a Contract Notice ID of CN917001 (as published on www.tenders.gov.au); and 
2. all correspondence (meaning emails, letters, facsimiles, memoranda, and file notes of telephone conversations and meetings): 
   1. relating to the tender and/or contract located in accordance with subparagraph 5(a) above; and  
   2. in respect of which Mr Gregory Ireland is a sender or recipient of, or is referred to therein, (that is, where both (i) and (ii) above are satisfied).  
       

Any documents, specifically ministerial/executive briefing notes, advice and email attachments as well as correspondence mentioning, discussing or deliberating over changes in considerations for Home Based Work applications since the APSC circular was issued in November 2020.

Please limit this search to documents or correspondence between the Minister for Families and Social Services, Senator Anne Ruston, or staff within their office or staff acting on their behalf and the Social Services secretary, Kathryn Campbell, or staff acting on behalf of the secretary as well as senior executive level staff within the Department of Social Services.

Additionally, I request documents reflecting the number of Home Based Work applications submitted by employees since 1 November 2020, including details on how many have been approved, rejected or are still being processed.

I request details on the processing times and reasons given by the department for Home Back Work rejections. I also request details on how many applicants have appealed department decisions where a Home Based Work application was rejected and how many of those were later approved upon appeal.

The range of all the above search requests should be limited to documents created since 1 November 2020 and 25 February 2021 (today's date).

Documents held by you and your office relating to the decision to introduce Independent functional assessments to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) announced on 28 August 2020 in response to the review of the NDIS Act by David Tune AO PSM. Specifically, my request encompasses:

• Correspondence between David Tune AO PSM and the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), Department of Social Services or Minister Robert’s office mentioning Independent Assessments.
• Documents determining the impact of Independent Assessments on scheme sustainability.

FOI 2021-064

… seek information regarding the "Disability Employment Services Privacy Consent Form V1.3"… In particular I seek the following information either in the "Deed", internal Departmental documents and or in any guidelines / directives to JobActive/DES providers for the period of the current Deed 1/7/2018 until the present.

1. Where it is listed as mandatory and or optional to complete this form
2. Any reference to clients refusing to complete the form
3. Any reference to clients amending the form in any way e.g alterations or via writing general comments

I also seek a copy/copies of any previous Disability Employment Services Privacy Consent Forms for the period 1St July 2018 until the introduction of Version 3.1 (9/03/2020)

…any document/s, policy, procedure, guidance note etc, either paper or electronic, that outlines, clarifies etc:

1. The criteria for a person to obtain support pursuant to the ICSS
2. All types of support available pursuant to the ICSS
3. Financial amount / quantification of support available in respect or a carer and/or care recipient, including how this is determined / allocated
4. The assessment checklist / criteria that assessors use when determining whether someone is eligible for support pursuant to the ICSS, including how the assessors determine what support/s will be allocated, and how much support/s will be allocated
5. The objection / appeal process, if a person is unhappy with a decision pursuant to the ICSS, for example, a decision on what, and how much, support that will be made available 
6. Any information, guidelines, policies, procedures, guidance notes etc on how the ICSS would apply, and how support packages would be allocated, in the following situations:
   1. A person provides care to multiple recipients in the same household (for example, if a parent supports their disabled child that lives with them, and also supports their spouse with mental health issues in the same household) 
   2. A person provides support to care recipients at 2 different addresses / household (for example, if a parent supports their disabled child that lives with them, and also supports their elderly parent that lives elsewhere) 
   3. A person that requires care themselves is also a carer (for example, a parent with mental health issues cares for a disabled child)
   4. Multiple persons (carers) from different addresses / households provide support to a care recipient living elsewhere  (for example, if siblings that live in their own household / address share the care of an elderly parent that lives by themselves elsewhere in their own household)

How support pursuant to the ICSS is impacted if the care recipient is also eligible for supports elsewhere, eg Under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) or MyAged Care Commonwealth Home Support Program or Home Care package
 

Tender documentation (including the approach to market, contract specification requirements and the final contract) in relation to the contract with N2N Communications for $878,735 commencing on 26 August 2020 (Austender Contract Notice CN3710563)

I request please DSS document No. EF20/7543

I request please DSS document No. EF20/13299

‘… all documents held by the Department of Social Services that relate to the use of "income averaging" by DSS, Services Australia, the Department of Human Services, or Centrelink, to finalise welfare debts in either the 1990s or the 1980s. To be clear, I am not seeking documents created in the 1990s or 1980s. I am seeking documents which relate to inquiries that the department has recently about the use of income-averaging dating back to the 1990s or 1980s. The documents could likely include correspondence between departmental staff relating to requests for investigations into the potential use of income averaging dating back to the 1990s, or 1980s, and the subsequent findings of these investigations in whatever form they may take. As a result, please confine my request to documents that were created after 1 July 2019.’

“…all correspondence, by email, text message or WhatsApp, between the Minister and the Minister's office and APM including its chief executive Michael Anghie sent this year.

I am also after all correspondence (email, text message or WhatsApp) between Minister Ruston and Minister Roberts about the JobActive fee change”

I request a list of all entities which received work from the Department under the National Indigenous Procurement Policy in the 2019-20 financial year.

“I kindly request a copy of the document/s, paper or electronic, that outline:

1. any conditions, requirements etc. that ACN must adhere to in relation to the grant, for example, how the grant monies are to be spent, and general governance conditions that ACN must meet in order to continue to be eligible for the grant monies,
2. any conditions, requirements etc. that stipulate what the grant is permitted to be used for”

FOI Request 2021-002 Documents

...the funding agreement for the years 2017-2020 and 2020-2022 for the DDS- NDIS Appeals between the Department of Social Services and Side by Side Advocacy Inc

Data on the Student Start-Up Loan - for each of 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 – total amount lent and estimated fair value of lending for each of those years.

As of 30 June 2019, the total amount lent for Student Start-Up loans and current fair value.

The Australian Government Actuary Report on the Student Start-Up loan mentioned on page 157 of the DSS Annual Report 2018-19.

I seek access to the issue frequency analysis document.

• Any document disclosing the total number of search requests received by ISS Australia, including the number of families located and the number of reunions facilitated.
• ISS’s final report.
• Any document which discloses the number of search requests from Indian adoptees or adoptive parents of children from India.
• The number of families located by ISS in India, including the number of reunions facilitated.
• Any document relating to the total funding received by ISS for this project.

a) A document created and/or compiled by DSS between May 18 2019 and June 30 2019 (inclusive of both dates) prepared at the request of and/or prepared for and/or delivered to the Minister for the NDIS and/or the Office of the Minister for the NDIS outlining and/or detailing and/or explaining and/or reviewing the status of the NDIS.

b) Any other “brief” and/or “submission” and/or PDF and/or word document of more than 10 pages in length created and/or compiled by DSS between May 18 2019 and June 30 2019 (inclusive of both dates) prepared at the request of and/or prepared for and/or delivered to the Minister for the NDIS and/or the Office of the Minister for the NDIS about the NDIS.

I request:

• the number of domestic violence incident reports made (or any other measure used to monitor domestic violence incidents) in the East Kimberley area between 1 July 2017 - 30 June 2018, and 1 July 2018 - 30 June 2019,
• the number of domestic violence incident reports made (or any other measure used to monitor domestic violence incidents) in the Ceduna area between 1 July 2017 - 30 June 2018, and 1 July 2018 - 30 June 2019,
• the number of domestic violence incident reports made (or any other measure used to monitor domestic violence incidents) in the Kalgoorlie area between 1 July 2017 - 30 June 2018, and 1 July 2018 - 30 June 2019,
• the number of domestic violence incident reports made (or any other measure used to monitor domestic violence incidents) in the Hinkler area between 1 July 2017 - 30 June 2018, and 1 July 2018 - 30 June 2019.

My understanding is that this information is collected by DSS in relation to the Cashless Debit Card program.

The annual number of DSP recipients from 1992 and number of DSP recipients for each state and territory from 1992. 

The annual number of NSA recipients - who have a disability - from 1992 and number of NSA recipients - who have a disability - for each state and territory from 1992.

The Department’s Freedom of Information business rules, guidelines, manuals and templates

• Information about welfare payments to homeless people including any analysis and/or advice about the impact of homelessness on receipt of support and individuals entitled to support but not receiving it because of homelessness;
• Policies relating to payment support for the homeless;
• Any estimation and/or forecasts about the extent or number of homeless people who could be receiving government welfare support but are not.

… the policy under which the in-kind funding aspect of the coag bilateral agreement between the Commonwealth of Australia and Victoria on the NDIS was considered necessary…

1. Data and/or documents showing the number of Outcome Fee Claims lodged by Disability Employment Services (DES) providers which were rejected as invalid by the department for the 2018-2019 financial year, and what percentage of total Claims submitted for the 2018-2019 financial year this figure represents.
2. Data and/or documents showing the number of Outcomes claimed and paid to DES providers which did not result in the participant remaining employed after the completion of the minimum 13 or 26 week periods for the 2018-2019 financial year.

File EF18/47804 Social Welfare Services – Grant Administration- Funding (Non-government Organisations NGO) -  018-2583 - Support for Trafficked People Program Trial for Forced Marriage Victims - Agreement Creation - Final Documents.

Item 1: the most recent breakdown of customer spending, by category and amount; and

Item 2: the most recent analysis of spending habits in relation to the Cashless Debit Card.

…all correspondence between the department and Minister Ruston’s office related to the timing of release of the DSS Payment Demographic Data.

"…modelling since May 18, 2019 relating to options to make the deeming rate more generous. I am particularly interested in any material that shows the distribution of the winners under the reforms. That is which proportion of retirees get over $500 and what is average benefit eligible retirees receive."

- any minutes from any meetings between NOW Australia and DSS
- any communication NOW Australia has had with DSS
- any communication between Tracey Spicer and DSS since 2017

All email correspondence between the minister's office and the department and internally within the department regarding Samantha Maiden's media inquiry relating to the deeming rate.

I am seeking:

1. The parts and/or sections and/or chapters of 2019 incoming ministerial and/or government briefing documents and/or packages and/or blue book(s) about and/or relating to the Cashless Debit Card and/or Basics Card and/or BasicsCard and/or income management.
2. Any briefs to the Minister (excluding any and/or all covered by part A above) produced on and/or after May 18 2019 about and/or relating to the Cashless Debit Card and/or Basics Card and/or BasicsCard and/or income management.

Data or documents used by, or showing how, the Minister for Families and Social Services made a decision to cut deeming rates in July 2019.

‘…the number of annual bookings made for the National Auslan Interpreter Booking and Payment Service (NABS) in South Australia only. NABS is currently contracted out to Wesley Mission Queensland.

I require statistics going back 5 years.

I also require statistics to be broken down into NDIS-funded assignments and non-NDIS-funded assignments.

Portions of the incoming government brief prepared for the Minister for Families and Social Services following the 2019 federal election that relate to:

1. the Community Development Program

2. the Cashless Debit Card

3. Income Management in the Northern Territory

4. the Targeted Compliance Framework

5. the Parentsnext Program

Documents containing the data compilation of interest rates from the various sources included in continuous monitoring of the financial markets and the application of a mathematical procedure to determine the appropriate deeming rate. Please limit these documents to those relating to the previous four changes in deeming rates.

1. Any documents of the analysis conducted or commissioned by the Department of Social Service to inform the design of, or in relation to the impact of, the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Defined Benefit Income Streams) Act 2015;

2. Any correspondence or memos between the Department of Social Service and the Office of the Minister for Social Service in 2014 and 2015 relating to the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Defined Benefit Income Streams) Act 2015; and

3. Any documents that have analysed the impact of the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Defined Benefit Income Streams) Act 2015 since it came into force.

Herewith I request the final report, or a similar document which ISS made regarding the $516,000 AUD received from the Department.

1. How many applications for Redress has the Scheme received between the starting date for applications and 30 May 2019?

2. How many applications for Redress have been successfully completed and actioned by the Scheme since it began accepting applications?

3. What is the average time taken, across all successfully completed and actioned applications to date, from receipt of an application until its successful completion and actioning?

I am seeking access to the incoming government brief prepared for the social services minister following the 2019 federal election. I am only seek access to those parts of the brief that relate to welfare debt recovery, drug testing of welfare recipients, the cashless welfare card, welfare fraud prevention, and the ParentsNext program.

1. At 30 April 2019, the number of staff employed by the Department in Redress Policy and Legislation Branch and Redress Implementation Branch) to administer the National Redress Scheme.

2. Between 1 July 2018 and 30 April 2019, the amount spent on salaries (plus superannuation, allowances, etc) for staff employed by the Department in Redress Policy and Legislation Branch and Redress Implementation Branch to administer the National Redress Scheme.

3. Between 1 July 2018 and 30 April 2019, the direct costs associated with implementing the National Redress Scheme, including salaries, entitlements, contractors, travel, and consultancies for the Department.

Documents produced in the last 12 months containing information about trans-generational welfare dependence.

I am specifically looking for data and/or statistics about the extent and/or incidence of trans-generational welfare dependence and analysis and/or assessment about, but not limited to, its causes and possible policy responses.

Documents used by the Complaints team to respond to incoming correspondence from members of the public, including processing instructions, standard operating procedures or task cards.

1. The Departmental decision minutes prepared for the refusal of the transfer from Ethan Affordable Housing Ltd to Quantum Housing Group Pty Ltd;
2. The Departmental decision minutes prepared for the approval of the transfer from Ethan Affordable Housing Ltd to Questus Fund Management Ltd; and
3. Reports on NRAS applications to transfer prepared by Deloitte which are related to Ethan Affordable Housing Ltd.

Item 1. Any statistical information about the number of interviews being conducted via alternative mode as per clause 93.6 of the Disability Employment Services Grant Agreement effective 1 July 2018

Documents produced in the last 12 months containing information analysis and/or advice and/or briefings about whether (a) recipients of the Newstart Allowance are below the standard relative income poverty possible line and (b) whether the Newstart Allowance is capable of meeting rental, food, clothing and other living costs for recipients. Information about the extent of any shortfall is also within scope.