❓ A WA parliamentary question seeks data on government agencies' compliance with Freedom of Information (FOI) reporting requirements, specifically targeting the Premier's Office. The answer provides some data and clarifies the Premier's Office reporting structure.
AnsweredQoN 3001Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
(a) for each of the Information Commissioner’s annual reports from 2000–2001 to 2006–2007:
(i) how many Government agencies failed to return the relevant information to the Commissioner by the reporting deadline;
(ii) how many Government agencies are not listed in the Annual Report; and
(iii) why did Government agencies which were not listed in the Annual Report not provide the relevant information; and
(b) why did the Premier’s Office not provide the relevant information to the Information Commissioner in:
(i) 2003–2004;
(ii) 2004–2005; or
(iii) 2005–2006?
(i) how many Government agencies failed to return the relevant information to the Commissioner by the reporting deadline;
(ii) how many Government agencies are not listed in the Annual Report; and
(iii) why did Government agencies which were not listed in the Annual Report not provide the relevant information; and
(b) why did the Premier’s Office not provide the relevant information to the Information Commissioner in:
(i) 2003–2004;
(ii) 2004–2005; or
(iii) 2005–2006?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
17 March 2008
Response time
20 days
(a)(i) - (iii) The notes to the statistical table listing FOI Requests Received by Agencies in the relevant annual reports of the Information Commissioner note that "If an agency does not appear in this table, this is because the required statistical data was not received in time for publication". Until 1999 the Information Commissioner had included in her annual reports a list of those agencies that did not provide their statistical return to the Commissioner in time for inclusion in the Commissioner's annual report. From 1999 the Commissioner has not provided details in her annual reports of how many Government agencies failed to provide the relevant information by the reporting deadline. Accordingly data is not available for the years 1998 - 1999 to 2002 - 2003 to answer whether and if so how many agencies are not listed in the Commissioner's annual reports. The number of agencies that did not submit a statistical return for the financial years from 2003 - 2004 is as follows:
2003-2004: 30
2004-2005: 25
2005-2006: 20
2006-2007: 8
Where agencies fail to provide statistical information in time for publication the Information Commissioner follows up with the relevant agency to seek to ensure that the statutory obligation is complied with. Reasons for non-compliance include that the agency had ceased to exist as a Government agency during the reporting year; and that the agency had a "nil" return.
(b)(i) - (iii) Clause 2(4) of the Glossary to the
Freedom of Information Act 1992
authorises regulations to be made declaring a specified office or body not to be regarded as a separate agency but to be regarded as a part of a specified agency for FOI purposes. Schedule 2 of the
Freedom of Information Regulations 1993
provides amongst other things that the Office of the Premier is taken to be a part of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet (formerly called Ministry of the Premier and Cabinet) for FOI purposes. Accordingly, relevant information relating to the Premier's Office is included in statistics reported by the Department of the Premier and Cabinet for the specified years.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
2003-2004: 30
2004-2005: 25
2005-2006: 20
2006-2007: 8
Where agencies fail to provide statistical information in time for publication the Information Commissioner follows up with the relevant agency to seek to ensure that the statutory obligation is complied with. Reasons for non-compliance include that the agency had ceased to exist as a Government agency during the reporting year; and that the agency had a "nil" return.
(b)(i) - (iii) Clause 2(4) of the Glossary to the
Freedom of Information Act 1992
authorises regulations to be made declaring a specified office or body not to be regarded as a separate agency but to be regarded as a part of a specified agency for FOI purposes. Schedule 2 of the
Freedom of Information Regulations 1993
provides amongst other things that the Office of the Premier is taken to be a part of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet (formerly called Ministry of the Premier and Cabinet) for FOI purposes. Accordingly, relevant information relating to the Premier's Office is included in statistics reported by the Department of the Premier and Cabinet for the specified years.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.