Hon Stephen Dawson questions the Minister regarding the public availability of the Country High Schools Hostels Authority (CHSHA) ex gratia scheme guidelines. The Minister confirms the guidelines were not publicly available but will now table them.

AnsweredQoN 1218Legislative Council
Asked
8 May 2014
Portfolio
Community Services

QuestionView source ↗

I refer to the Country High Schools Hostels Authority (CHSHA) ex gratia scheme guidelines, and I ask: (a) can the Minister advise if the CHSHA guidelines were made available to the public; (b) if no to (a), why not; (c) will the Minister now table the CHSHA guidelines; (d) if no to (c), why not; (e) if yes to (a), in what format and in which locations were the CHSHA guidelines publically available and when did the guidelines become available for each format; (f) what percentage of people who applied to the CHSHA scheme received a copy of the CHSHA guidelines from the department before their application was determined; (g) how many requests did the department receive for a copy of the CHSHA scheme guidelines: (i) before the scheme closed, and; and (ii) from the closure date until 28 February 2014; and (h) in response to these requests in (f), on how many occasions did the department provide a copy of the CHSHA guidelines?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
24 June 2014
Responded by
Minister for Mental Health representing the Minister for Community Services
Response time
47 days
(a) No, the CHSHA guidelines were not made available to the public.
(b) It is not common practice in ex gratia schemes to make the guidelines available to the public. Additionally, at the time the guidelines were endorsed, several applications had already been received and it was thought that if the guidelines were then released, those applicants who had already submitted applications may feel disadvantaged by not having had access to the guidelines at the time of submitting their applications.
(c) Yes
(d) Not applicable
(e) Not applicable
(f) No applicants received a copy of the guidelines
(g) A Freedom of Information (FOI) application requesting the guidelines was received after the scheme had closed.
(i) Not applicable
(ii) Refer to (g)
(h) The guidelines were provided in response to the FOI application.

Explore WA Government Data

Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.

Explore more