Treasury Graduate Analyst Training Programme
sarahjanenz made this Official Information request to The Treasury
The request was partially successful.
From: sarahjanenz
Dear Mrs Foster,
In the OIA dated 6 March 2018 (Reference: 20180037) on Treasury's website you state "Graduate Analysts go through a comprehensive technical and non-technical training programme and Analysts also have access to a wide range of training courses."
Please provide full information about each component of "the comprehensive technical and non-technical training programme for Graduate Analysts", including a complete break-down of the differences in how this programme is structured for:
- Graduate Analysts with Honours or a PhD in Economics
- Graduate Analysts with a Bachelors Degree in Economics
- Graduate Analysts with a Honours or a PhD in Accounting/Finance
- Graduate Analysts with a Bachelors Degree in Accounting/Finance
- Graduate Analysts who do not have a qualification in Economics, Accounting or Finance.
Please also provide:
- Full details of the process and criteria for Graduate Analysts to be appointed to Analyst roles
- Information about the level of knowledge Graduate Analysts must demonstrate in Economics to be appointed to an Analyst role, and the objective measures and assessment criteria used to determine whether such knowledge has been gained.
- The level of knowledge Graduate Analysts must demonstrate in Accounting/Finance to be appointed to an Analyst role and the objective measures and assessment criteria used to determine whether such knowledge has been gained
- The average length of time it has taken on average for:
a) Graduate Analysts with Honours or a PhD in Economics
b) Graduate Analysts with a Bachelors Degree in Economics
c) Graduate Analysts with a Honours or a PhD in Accounting/Finance
d) Graduate Analysts with a Bachelors Degree in Accounting/Finance
e) Graduate Analysts without a qualification in Economics, Accounting or Finance
to develop the required knowledge to be appointed to an Analyst role in the last 6 years.
I confirm that I am a New Zealander and that I reside in New Zealand.
Yours faithfully,
Sarah Jane
From: Apurva Mahire [TSY]
The Treasury
Dear Sarah
Please find attached acknowledgement to your OIA request.
Thank you.
Warm Regards,
Apurva Mahire | Ministerial Advisor| The Treasury- Kaitohutohu Kaupapa
Rawa
| [1][email address]
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From: sarahjanenz
Dear Apurva Mahire [TSY],
Further to your response and our subsequent phone discussion where i advised you of my personal details, I note that this request is now long overdue. Please respond as required by law. Please also provide the reason for your very long delay.
Yours sincerely,
Sarah Jane
From: Apurva Mahire [TSY]
The Treasury
Kia Ora Sarah
Thank you for your email.
Treasury does not have any record of a phone conversation that has taken place between yourself and any Treasury staff. Are you able to confirm the name of the staff member you recall speaking with please?
As per our records your OIA request is due for a response on the 12th of December. An extension letter was sent out to you on the 5th of October 2018 to advise you of the 30 working day extension to your request.
Thank you.
Warm Regards,
Apurva Mahire | Ministerial Advisor| The Treasury- Kaitohutohu Kaupapa Rawa
[email address]
Please note I work from home on Tuesdays.
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From: sarahjanenz
Dear Apurva Mahire [TSY],
I spoke to you on the 4th of October and provided you with my home address.
During that call I advised you that i did not want any correspondence sent to me by post and that all replies should be sent via FYI.org. I further advised that the only reason i had called rather than replying through this site was that I did not want my personal details published on the internet. You agreed to respond to me via FYI.org.
You state that you wrote to me on 5 October. That response has not been sent to FYI.org. Nor have I received anything through the post. As such I do not believe the extension you claim to have advised to be valid. In any event, the idea that it would take 10 weeks to reply to a clear request about routine processes that you run annually and regard so highly that you have entered and indeed won awards for falls well short of the grounds for an extension set out in section 15(A) of the Official Information Act and is patently at odds with your obligation to respond as soon as reasonably practicable. I would invite you to reconsider this decision and expressly reserve my rights to raise this with the Ombudsman under section 28(3) of the Act.
Finally I note that it is wholly illogical that you were able to “send out” a reply to me if you had not already spoken to me, as I only provided you with my address details by phone.
I look forward to an expedited response via this website.
Yours sincerely,
Sarah Jane
From: David Hammond [TSY]
The Treasury
Hi Sarah Jane,
Thank you for your email. We did send an extension letter but it was sent to the incorrect email address it was sent to '[email address]' instead of [FOI #8794 email] . Those speech marks made all the difference between you receiving the extension letter and not receiving the extension letter. We apologies for this, but it is a genuine human error (I don't know exactly how it happened but I imagine it may have happened while cutting and pasting your email address). The extension was required because of the amount of work required to prepare the response.
As for the phone call my staff are genuinely stumped because it is our general practice to note any phone calls we have with requesters (more than that, we go back to requesters to confirm with emails that our notes of the phone call are a fair recollection of the call), and we don't have any notes in our records. However, it may not have happened in this case.
Given the size of the request we are working towards the extension date of 12 December 2018 (we fully acknowledge you may not have received the extension but this is the timeframe we are working to given the size of the request).
Finally, I take the approach of acknowledging when we didn't get something right, as happened in this case. You are fully in your rights to ask the Ombudsman to investigate but the explanation I have provided you would be the exact same one I have provided you. If you have any questions or concerns do not hesitate to contact me either by email or phone.
Yours sincerely,
David Hammond
David Hammond | Acting Team Leader | Ministerial Advisory Service |The Treasury - Te Kaitohutohu Kaupapa Rawa | 04 917 6099 |
[email address]
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Hi Sarah,
show quoted sections
From: sarahjanenz
Dear David Hammond [TSY],
Thank you for your prompt reply.
I am surprised that The Treasury considers that providing:
- full information about the components of your comprehensive technical and non-technical training programme for Graduate Analysts, including how this is varied for staff with different qualifications
- the process and criteria for Graduate Analysts to be appointed to Analyst roles
- the level of economics and finance knowledge Graduate Analysts must demonstrate to be appointed to an Analyst role, and the measures and criteria used to determine that such knowledge has been gained.
- the average length of time it has taken Graduate Analysts with different academic backgrounds to be appointed to an Analyst role
to be meet the criteria for being such "a large quantity of official information or necessitates a search through a large quantity of information" that it justifies taking 250% longer than the statutory maximum to respond substantively to my request, particularly given that I am only asking about expertise that is fundamental to Treasury's role as the government's lead financial and economic adviser, and only in relation to an award winning and "comprehensive" programme. One would really expect that this information would be readily available. But perhaps the very large amount of detailed information you will send me in response will allay my concerns in this respect,
Please note that the information in bullet points above is provided as a summary only and does not in any way modify my original request.
Yours sincerely,
Sarah Jane
From: Apurva Mahire [TSY]
The Treasury
Kia Ora Sarah
Please find attached response to your OIA request.
Thank you.
Warm Regards,
Apurva Mahire | Ministerial Advisor| The Treasury- Kaitohutohu Kaupapa
Rawa
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
The information in this email is confidential to the Treasury, intended
only for the addressee(s), and may also be legally privileged. If you are
not an intended addressee:
a. please immediately delete this email and notify the Treasury by return
email or telephone (64 4 472 2733);
b. any use, dissemination or copying of this email is strictly prohibited
and may be unlawful.
[IN-CONFIDENCE]
From: sarahjanenz
Dear Apurva Mahire [TSY],
Thank you for finally responding to my request. The fact that the Treasury decided to have 250% longer than the standard statutory maximum to provide such a brief response that clearly required nothing more than cutting and pasting what appear to be standard requirements and writing a few additional sentences about processes you run annually is most underwhelming.
Accordingly I request all information held in any form by the Treasury that shows or relates to:
1. your decision to extend the time to respond to this request by 250% of the standard statutory maxima; and
2. any draft full or partial drafts of this response and any feedback on or amendments to those drafts; and
3. any comments about the level of detail to provide me with in this request; and
4. any decision(s) to exclude or omit any information relating to this request; and
5. any other comments or views about this request or the requestor.
I trust you will deal with this response in the standard statutory timeframe.
Yours sincerely,
Sarah Jane
From: Jean McDowall [TSY]
The Treasury
Goof afternoon
Acknowledgement of receipt of your OIA request is attached.
Regards
Jean McDowall | Contractor | Ministerial Advisory Service |The Treasury -
Te Kaitohutohu Kaupapa Rawa
[email address]
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From: Jean McDowall [TSY]
The Treasury
[IN-CONFIDENCE]
Good morning
Acknowledgement of receipt of your OIA request is attached.
Regards
Jean McDowall | Contractor | Ministerial Advisory Service |The Treasury -
Te Kaitohutohu Kaupapa Rawa
[1][email address]
[IN-CONFIDENCE]
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From: Jean McDowall [TSY]
The Treasury
Good afternoon Sarah Jane
A response to your OIA request is attached.
Regards
Jean McDowall | Contractor | Ministerial Advisory Service |The Treasury -
Te Kaitohutohu Kaupapa Rawa | 04 890 7227 |
[email address]
[IN-CONFIDENCE]
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From: sarahjanenz
Dear Jean McDowall [TSY],
This is a most disappointing reply, and suggests a high level of disingenuity on the part of the Treasury especially in regards to the retrofitting of a reason to delay responding to my request.
I now further request:
- All official information relationg to the reasons why "Candy" told Laura Baird to "push for a 30 day extension"
- All information in the documents you provided that have been redacted on the grounds they were not relevant to my request
I would like these points to be responded to with urgency.
Additionally I request (under normal timeframes) an itemised list of all OIAs that the Treasury HR has been responsible for responding to in the last three years, including:
- the subject of the request
- the length of time (in working days) it took for a substantive response to be provided to the requestor
- the reasons given for any extension and all official information that relates in any way to the extension
- whether or not you received any response following that indicating that the requestor was satisfied with the response; and
- Whether or not you received any response following that indicating that the requestor was not satisfied with the response.
I request that this be provided in table form and that a copy of the substantive response be included behind that table
Yours sincerely,
sarahjanenz
From: Jean McDowall [TSY]
The Treasury
Good afternoon
Correspondence about your OIA request is attached.
Regards
Jean McDowall | Ministerial Advisor| Te Tai Ôhanga – The Treasury
Tel: +64 4 890 7227 | Mobile: +64 N/A | Email/IM:
[email address]
Visit us online at [1]https://treasury.govt.nz/ and follow us on
[2]Twitter, [3]LinkedIn and [4]Instagram
[IN-CONFIDENCE]
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not an intended addressee:
a. please immediately delete this email and notify the Treasury by return
email or telephone (64 4 472 2733);
b. any use, dissemination or copying of this email is strictly prohibited
and may be unlawful.
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From: David Hammond [TSY]
The Treasury
[UNCLASSIFIED]
Dear Sarah Jane,
I am writing in response to your request for official information below:
This is a most disappointing reply, and suggests a high level of
disingenuity on the part of the Treasury especially in regards to the
retrofitting of a reason to delay responding to my request.
I now further request:
- All official information relationg to the reasons why "Candy" told Laura
Baird to "push for a 30 day extension"
- All information in the documents you provided that have been redacted on
the grounds they were not relevant to my request I would like these points
to be responded to with urgency.
Additionally I request (under normal timeframes) an itemised list of all
OIAs that the Treasury HR has been responsible for responding to in the
last three years, including:
- the subject of the request
- the length of time (in working days) it took for a substantive response
to be provided to the requestor
- the reasons given for any extension and all official information that
relates in any way to the extension
- whether or not you received any response following that indicating that
the requestor was satisfied with the response; and
- Whether or not you received any response following that indicating that
the requestor was not satisfied with the response.
I request that this be provided in table form and that a copy of the
substantive response be included behind that table
Please note that your accusation of “retrofitting of a reason to delay
responding to my request” is both inaccurate and offensive. However, the
Office of the Ombudsman is best placed to investigate these very serious
concerns raised by you and I encourage you to lay a complaint with the
Office of the Ombudsman so they can fully investigate The Treasury’s
handling of your OIA requests. The Office of the Ombudsman can be reached
on 0800 802 602 or [1][email address] in order to lay a
complaint. Furthermore, your use of quotation marks around Candy Gray’s
name also carries offensive implications.
1. The Treasury is able to respond to the first part of your request
within the normal timeframes under the Official Information Act:
- All official information relating to the reasons why "Candy" told Laura
Baird to "push for a 30 day extension"
- All information in the documents you provided that have been redacted on
the grounds they were not relevant to my request
2. However the second part of your request covers a large amount of
information:
…an itemised list of all OIAs that the Treasury HR has been responsible
for responding to in the last three years, including:
- the subject of the request
- the length of time (in working days) it took for a substantive response
to be provided to the requestor
- the reasons given for any extension and all official information that
relates in any way to the extension
- whether or not you received any response following that indicating that
the requestor was satisfied with the response; and
- Whether or not you received any response following that indicating that
the requestor was not satisfied with the response.
I request that this be provided in table form and that a copy of the
substantive response be included behind that table
Your request as currently framed will be very difficult to meet without
substantial collation or research. Among other considerations, locating
relevant documents (including emails between Treasury staff) relating to
“the reasons given for any extension and all official information that
relates in any way to the extension
- whether or not you received any response following that indicating that
the requestor was satisfied with the response; and
- Whether or not you received any response following that indicating that
the requestor was not satisfied with the response” will require searching
through many thousands of documents to identify material relevant to your
request.
I invite you to consider refining your request. For example, we could give
you a list of OIAs the Treasury HR team has been responsible for over the
last three years, and how many of them were extended.
Unless your request is amended, we may have to consider charging for time
spent by staff searching for relevant material, extracting and collating,
copying, transcribing and supervising access where the total time involved
is in excess of one hour.
The charge at the rates, and for the activities, specified in the
Government’s Charging guidelines after the first hour are:
- an initial charge of $38 for the first chargeable half hour or part
thereof; and
- then $38 for each additional half hour or part thereof.
Alternatively, we may have to refuse your request under section [18(f) of
the OIA, which applies where the information cannot be made available
without substantial collation or research.
Please let us know before 7 May 2019 whether you are prepared to amend or
clarify your request and, if so, how. Please note, if you do amend or
clarify your request, this will be considered to be a new request for the
purpose of calculating the maximum statutory timeframe for a response—see
section 15(1AA) of the OIA.
As I mentioned earlier, if you are unhappy with the length of time taken
to respond to your original request, or with any other aspects of the
Treasury’s decisions on that or subsequent requests, the appropriate
course of action is to contact the Ombudsman, who will fully investigate
your concerns.
Yours sincerely,
David Hammond
David Hammond (he/him) | Team Leader Ministerial Advisory Service | Te Tai
Ôhanga – The Treasury
Tel: +64 4 917 6099 | Email/IM: [email address]
Visit us online at [2]https://treasury.govt.nz/ and follow us on
[3]Twitter, [4]LinkedIn and [5]Instagram
show quoted sections
From: Jean McDowall [TSY]
The Treasury
Good afternoon
A response to your OIA request is attached.
Regards
Jean McDowall | Ministerial Advisor | Te Tai Ôhanga – The Treasury
Email/IM: [email address]
Visit us online at [1]https://treasury.govt.nz/ and follow us on
[2]Twitter, [3]LinkedIn and [4]Instagram
[IN-CONFIDENCE]
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The information in this email is confidential to the Treasury, intended
only for the addressee(s), and may also be legally privileged. If you are
not an intended addressee:
a. please immediately delete this email and notify the Treasury by return
email or telephone (64 4 472 2733);
b. any use, dissemination or copying of this email is strictly prohibited
and may be unlawful.
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