Advisory Committee on the Student Services Fee (ACSSF)
Andrew Tipton made this Official Information request to Victoria University of Wellington
The request was successful.
From: Andrew Tipton
Dear Victoria University of Wellington,
I am writing to request some information about the Advisory Committee on the Student Services Fee (ACSSF). In previous years, this committee has also been known as the Advisory Committee on the Student Services Levy (ACSSL).
Some very brief information about the ACSSF appears on the VUW website:
https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/students/money/fe...
Please provide the following information about the ACSSF and the ACSSL:
(1) The current and historic (for past five years) Terms of Reference for the ACSSF and/or ACSSL.
(2) The current and historic (for past five years) membership lists for the ACSSF and/or ACSSL.
(3) A list of the dates and locations of the ACSSF and/or ACSSL meetings for the past five years.
(4) The agenda of each meeting of the ACSSF and/or ACSSL for the past five years.
(5) The minutes of each meeting of the ACSSF and/or ACSSL for the past five years.
(6) The decision papers and other outputs from the ACSSF and/or ACSSL meetings for the past five years.
(7) Copies of any reports, committee papers, etc. that were considered by the ACSSF and/or ACSSL during the meetings for the past five years.
Yours faithfully,
Andrew Tipton
From: OIA Requests
Victoria University of Wellington
Kia ora
I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request of 10 December 2025.
We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible, and not later than 29 January 2026, being 20 working days after the date your request was received.
If you have any questions or concerns relating to your request in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Ngā mihi
Kayana Shaw (she/her)
Senior Advisor, Official Information and Privacy | Legal Services
Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington
http://www.wgtn.ac.nz/ | 0800 04 04 04
show quoted sections
From: OIA Requests
Victoria University of Wellington
Kia ora Andrew
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request of 10
December 2025, in which you requested:
1. “The current and historic (for past five years) Terms of Reference for
the ACSSF and/or ACSSL.
2. The current and historic (for past five years) membership lists for
the ACSSF and/or ACSSL.
3. A list of the dates and locations of the ACSSF and/or ACSSL meetings
for the past five years.
4. The agenda of each meeting of the ACSSF and/or ACSSL for the past five
years.
5. The minutes of each meeting of the ACSSF and/or ACSSL for the past
five years.
6. The decision papers and other outputs from the ACSSF and/or ACSSL
meetings for the past five years.
7. Copies of any reports, committee papers, etc. that were considered by
the ACSSF and/or ACSSL during the meetings for the past five years."
To respond to your request as it is currently framed would require
collating information from approximately 60 meetings over a five-year time
period. Accordingly, this email is to advise that your request would
likely require substantial collation and/or research to respond, creating
significant and unreasonable impact on the University's ability to carry
out its other operations. Accordingly, your request may be refused under
section 18(f) of the OIA.
In order to assist us in preparing a response, can you please confirm
whether you are happy to refine your request to be for information from
the 2024 and 2025 calendar years?
We would also be grateful if you can please clarify what you are seeking
to understand from the information requested, in case we can provide more
tailored information for you rather than all information discussed at
ACSSF/ACSSL meetings which may not have relevance for your purposes.
If there is any additional information you can provide that can assist us
to narrow the scope of your request, please let us know.
Please reply with confirmation of the above by 18 December 2025. If we do
not hear back from you in this time, we will proceed with your original
request.
Please note, any clarification or amendment of a request is considered to
be a new request for the purpose of calculating the maximum statutory
timeframe for response—see section 15(1AA) of the Official Information
Act.
Ngâ mihi
Kayana Shaw (she/her)
Senior Advisor, Official Information and Privacy | Legal Services
Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington
[1]www.wgtn.ac.nz | 0800 04 04 04
show quoted sections
From: Andrew Tipton
Kia ora Kayana,
Please see my responses to your questions below:
> In order to assist us in preparing a response, can you please confirm
whether you are happy to refine your request to be for information from
the 2024 and 2025 calendar years?
Yes, I would accept a response with the requested information for just 2024 and 2025, if that is what it takes to avoid your refusal of my request.
> We would also be grateful if you can please clarify what you are seeking
to understand from the information requested, in case we can provide more
tailored information for you rather than all information discussed at
ACSSF/ACSSL meetings which may not have relevance for your purposes.
The purpose of my request is to ensure that the ACSSF/ACSSL is accountable to the students that have paid the Student Services Fees/Levies. Students must be assured that the matters under consideration by the ACSSF/ACSSL have been properly decided. As such, my view is that the information which I have requested is precisely the information which is relevant to this purpose.
There is a strong public interest in the release of this information. My view is that any refusal of this request under section 18(f) is not appropriate.
Guidance from the Ombudsman [1] makes it clear that you are "required to create and maintain public records in an accessible form so they can be used for subsequent reference" (p. 8) and that "where the difficulty involved in meeting an official information request arises because of an agency’s own administrative failings, it may not be reasonable to refuse it on the grounds of substantial collation or research." (p. 9)
As the university is a Crown entity, the provisions of the Public Records Act 2005 section 17 apply. You are required to maintain your records in an accessible form, such that they can be used for subsequent reference. It is unfortunate that this seems not to be the case for the ACSSF and ACSSL meetings.
In light of the apparent difficulty that you will face in finding and collating the requested information, I am willing to accept an interim response (within the statutory timeframes) for the 2024 and 2025 information, followed (at some later date) by the 2021, 2022, and 2023 information.
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Tipton
From: OIA Requests
Victoria University of Wellington
Kia ora Andrew
Thank you for your email of 16 December 2025 agreeing to refine your
request to be for the following:
“For the period 1 January 2024 to 10 December 2025:
1. The current and historic Terms of Reference for the ACSSF and/or
ACSSL.
2. The current and historic membership lists for the ACSSF and/or ACSSL.
3. A list of the dates and locations of the ACSSF and/or ACSSL meetings.
4. The agenda of each meeting of the ACSSF and/or ACSSL.
5. The minutes of each meeting of the ACSSF and/or ACSSL.
6. The decision papers and other outputs from the ACSSF and/or ACSSL
meetings.
7. Copies of any reports, committee papers, etc. that were considered by
the ACSSF and/or ACSSL during the meetings."
As mentioned in my email to you of 15 December 2025, this request is
considered to be a new request for the purpose of calculating the maximum
statutory timeframe for response (s 15(1AA) of the OIA refers). We will
endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible, and not later
than 4 February 2026, being 20 working days after the date your request
was received.
Please note, if you wish to request information for the 2021, 2022 and
2023 years you will need to submit this as a new request.
Finally, for clarity, the reasons for potentially refusing your original
request under s 18(f) of the OIA is due to the volume of information you
had requested to be collated. As noted in my email, you requested
information covering a five-year period including approximately 60
meetings, requiring significant work to retrieve, extract and compile
information relevant to your request in order to provide a response. You
may wish to refer to page 5 of the [1]Ombudsman’s guidance on s18(f) of
the OIA, which sets out what work contributes towards substantial
collation and research.
If you have any concerns, you have the right to seek an investigation and
review by the Ombudsman of this decision. Information about how to make a
complaint is available at [2]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800
802 602.
Ngā mihi
Kayana Shaw (she/her)
Senior Advisor, Official Information and Privacy | Legal Services
Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington
[3]www.wgtn.ac.nz | 0800 04 04 04
show quoted sections
From: OIA Requests
Victoria University of Wellington
Kia ora Andrew
I am writing in relation to your OIA request of 16 December 2025 for
information relating to the ACSSF.
While starting work researching information potentially in scope of your
request, it has been identified that your refined request is unfortunately
still likely to be refused under section 18(f) of the OIA, as it would
require substantial collation and research to be able to respond due to
the significant impact to the resources available to process your request.
Further explanations for the reasons are as follows:
1. In relation to parts 4, 5 and 7 of your request – So far,
approximately 100 documents have been identified as potentially in scope
of these parts of your request. In order to respond to these parts of your
request would require:
a. Further work to search, retrieve and extract some remaining
information potentially in scope.
b. Significant work to compile more than 100 documents into a format
to be able to proceed with the next steps of responding to your request.
2. In relation to part 6 of your request – In order to provide a response
to this part of your request would require:
a. Significant work to identify the requested information, by
manually assessing every meeting minute and consulting with
relevant staff to determine any outputs, actions or papers
discussed at each meeting but not formally tabled as a tabled
paper.
b. Additional work to search , retrieve and extract information,
including reading and reviewing to determine if it is in scope of
your request.
c. Likely significant work to compile the documents into a format to
be able to proceed with the next steps of responding to your
request.
Accordingly, we would be grateful if you could please consider further
refining your request as follows:
“For the period 1 January 2024 to 10 December 2025:
1. The current and historic Terms of Reference for the ACSSF and/or
ACSSL.
2. The current and historic membership lists for the ACSSF and/or ACSSL.
3. A list of the dates and locations of the ACSSF and/or ACSSL meetings.
4. The agenda of each meeting of the ACSSF and/or ACSSL.”
For your awareness, the agendas for each meeting of the ACSSF, which would
be in scope of part 5 of the further refined request, contain a list of
papers tabled at the respective meeting. We strongly recommend this
approach to further refine your request in this way, as the information in
scope would provide you enough background to assist you in determining
what additional information you would want in a separate follow up OIA
request, without creating significant strain on the University’s resources
and ability to carry out other work.
We respect your interest in the ACSSF and appreciate the opportunity to
work with you to identify a way we can provide you with key information to
support your work. We are grateful for your time assisting us on this, and
happy to discuss any further questions or concerns you might have on
processing a response to your request.
Please note that if your request is not refined further, the University
will first consider whether extending or charging would enable us to
provide a response before making a final decision on potentially refusing
your request.
If you have any concerns, you have the right to seek an investigation and
review by the Ombudsman of your request. Information about how to make a
complaint is available at [1]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800
802 602.
Ngā mihi
Kayana Shaw (she/her)
Senior Advisor, Official Information and Privacy | Legal Services
Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington
From: OIA Requests <[VUW request email]>
Sent: Tuesday, 16 December 2025 11:26 am
To: Andrew Tipton <[FOI #33206 email]>
Subject: RE: Refinement: OIA 12-10 Tipton - Advisory Committee on the
Student Services Fee
Kia ora Andrew
Thank you for your email of 16 December 2025 agreeing to refine your
request to be for the following:
“For the period 1 January 2024 to 10 December 2025:
1. The current and historic Terms of Reference for the ACSSF and/or
ACSSL.
2. The current and historic membership lists for the ACSSF and/or ACSSL.
3. A list of the dates and locations of the ACSSF and/or ACSSL meetings.
4. The agenda of each meeting of the ACSSF and/or ACSSL.
5. The minutes of each meeting of the ACSSF and/or ACSSL.
6. The decision papers and other outputs from the ACSSF and/or ACSSL
meetings.
7. Copies of any reports, committee papers, etc. that were considered by
the ACSSF and/or ACSSL during the meetings."
As mentioned in my email to you of 15 December 2025, this request is
considered to be a new request for the purpose of calculating the maximum
statutory timeframe for response (s 15(1AA) of the OIA refers). We will
endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible, and not later
than 4 February 2026, being 20 working days after the date your request
was received.
Please note, if you wish to request information for the 2021, 2022 and
2023 years you will need to submit this as a new request.
Finally, for clarity, the reasons for potentially refusing your original
request under s 18(f) of the OIA is due to the volume of information you
had requested to be collated. As noted in my email, you requested
information covering a five-year period including approximately 60
meetings, requiring significant work to retrieve, extract and compile
information relevant to your request in order to provide a response. You
may wish to refer to page 5 of the [2]Ombudsman’s guidance on s18(f) of
the OIA, which sets out what work contributes towards substantial
collation and research.
If you have any concerns, you have the right to seek an investigation and
review by the Ombudsman of this decision. Information about how to make a
complaint is available at [3]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800
802 602.
Ngā mihi
Kayana Shaw (she/her)
Senior Advisor, Official Information and Privacy | Legal Services
Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington
[4]www.wgtn.ac.nz | 0800 04 04 04
show quoted sections
From: Andrew Tipton
Dear Kayana,
I agree to revise the scope of my request to the following items:
“For the period 1 January 2024 to 10 December 2025:
1. The current and historic Terms of Reference for the ACSSF and/or
ACSSL.
2. The current and historic membership lists for the ACSSF and/or ACSSL.
3. A list of the dates and locations of the ACSSF and/or ACSSL meetings.
4. The agenda of each meeting of the ACSSF and/or ACSSL.”
I will review the meeting agendas, as suggested, and identify the relevant papers and/or minutes and/or decisions of interest. My intention is to then submit a further request which is restricted to only those items of interest.
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Tipton
From: OIA Requests
Victoria University of Wellington
Kia ora
Thank you for your email.
If you are making a request under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA),
the University will be in touch to acknowledge your request and discuss
further if necessary.
Please note that the OIA statutory holiday period is 25 December 2025 to
15 January 2026 (inclusive), and any requests made during this period will
have a decision due date of 13 February 2026.
The University is currently experiencing high volumes of OIA requests.
Accordingly, we would be grateful if you could please instead consider the
following alternative methods to answer commonly requested information:
* If you are a prospective student seeking information to apply to study
with us, please contact the University’s Student Success Advisers for
admissions advice:
[1]https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/study/apply-enrol...
* If you are a student seeking advice on studies, student
administration, support services, and student life in general, please
contact Tîtoko—Centre for Student Success:
[2]https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/students/tools-an...
* If you are seeking grade distributions or copies of test papers,
please contact your course coordinator or lecturer. Contact details
can be found on the relevant course page, which you can search for on
the University’s website here:
[3]https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/study/programmes-...
* If you are seeking agendas and minutes from the University Council,
you can find these on the University’s website as follows:
* Meeting dates and agendas:
[4]https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/about/governance/...
* Minutes:
[5]https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/about/governance/...
* If you are seeking agendas, papers, and minutes from the University’s
Academic Board, you can find these on the University’s website here:
[6]https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/about/governance/...
* If you are seeking other key University documents, such as our Annual
Report, Ki te râ—Student Wellbeing Outcomes Framework, Strategic Plan
and more, you can find these on the University’s website here:
[7]https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/about/governance/...
If you have found the information through any of the alternative means,
please confirm by email if you would like to withdraw your OIA request.
Otherwise, if we do not hear back from you, we will proceed with your
request as normal.
Thank you.
Ngâ mihi
OIA Team
Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington
References
Visible links
1. https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/study/apply-enrol...
2. https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/students/tools-an...
3. https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/study/programmes-...
4. https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/about/governance/...
5. https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/about/governance/...
6. https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/about/governance/...
7. https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/about/governance/...
Andrew Tipton left an annotation ()
I will reluctantly accept a partial victory, and narrow the scope of the original request. It will be interesting to see what items come up for discussion at each ACSSF meeting.
From: OIA Requests
Victoria University of Wellington
Kia ora Andrew
Please find attached a response to your Official Information Act 1982
request of 13 January 2026.
Ngâ mihi
Kayana Shaw (she/her)
Senior Advisor, Official Information and Privacy | Legal Services
Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington
[1]www.wgtn.ac.nz | 0800 04 04 04
show quoted sections
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence (note: this contains the same information already available above).
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Andrew Tipton left an annotation ()
The university must comply with TEC funding conditions around the Student Services Fee:
https://www.tec.govt.nz/funding/funding-...
The requested information about the university's ACSSF isn't publicly available, which is likely to be a violation of the funding conditions. Let's see if the university provides the requested information, or if they will continue to insist that the ACSSF agenda and minutes are confidential.
Link to this