27 February 2023
Sarah M
By email: [FYI request #21716 email]
Tēnā koe Sarah
Official information request regarding complaints made by professional staff
I refer to your request for information under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act)
dated 3 February 2023:
“Please provide the following:
1) number of complaints made by professional staff from the student services
and support areas for each year from 2018 to 2022 inclusive
2) for each of the above years the number of complaints upheld and the number
dismissed”
For the purposes of this request we have interpreted ‘student services and support areas’
to refer to centralised units offering student support services, specifically the Student
Experience and Wellbeing, and Titoko departments.
Records held by the University’s Human Resources department show 6 complaints
received from professional staff in student services and support areas between 2019 and
2022.
Further information relating to complaints made by professional staff in student support
areas, including complaints made in 2018, complaints that may have been dealt with
directly by line managers without input from Human Resources, or complaints made by
staff employed in student support roles in other areas of the University cannot be made
available without substantial collation or research. Therefore, this aspect of your request
is refused in accordance with s18(f) of the Act.
Information regarding whether complaints were upheld or dismissed and a breakdown of
complaints by year is withheld in accordance with s9(2)(a) of the Act in order to protect
the privacy of natural persons.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of the
decisions made regarding this request. Information about how to make a complaint is
available
at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
If you wish to discuss this decision with us, please feel free to contact me at
[VUW request email].
Ngā mihi nui
Blair Doherty
Senior Advisor, Official Information and Privacy
Legal Services
Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington
