15 October 2020
Max Soar
By email:
[FYI request #13837 email]
Tēnā koe Max
Official Information Act Request – Individuals employed in Tutor or
equivalent roles
I refer to your request for information under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act)
dated
18 September 2020:
Can you please tell us how many individuals were employed in Tutor,
Senior Tutor, and equivalent teaching support staff roles in each trimester
since Trimester 1 2015? For clarity, equivalent teaching support staff roles
are Sessional Assistants, Laboratory Demonstrators, Teaching Assistants,
and Graduate Assistants.
Numbers of Tutors and Senior Tutors
Please see the
attached spreadsheet that provides headcount numbers for all
appointments at Faculty and School levels with “Tutor” and “Senior Tutor” in the job
title.
The trimester dates used were those from the 2015–2020 University Calendar, up to
and including the end of trimester one in 2020. The trimester two dates used were those
from the revised 2020 University Calendar due to COVID-19. Please note that
employees who have held multiple tutor jobs will have been counted multiple times.
More detailed information
We note that you also requested:
• the numbers of “equivalent teaching support staff roles”;
• a breakdown in terms of FTE; and
• for individuals not to be double counted.
Due to the substantial amount of time and resources that would be required to
research and collate this additional and more detailed level of information you have
requested, we are refusing this part of your request under section 18(f) of the Act.
Providing this extra level of detail would involve extracting and manipulating large
amounts of data covering almost six years, and then cross-checking individual
personnel across Schools and Faculties. To produce a response to this part of your
request would take about 24 working hours. Given the University’s time and
resource constraints, this would have a significant impact on the ability of University
personnel to carry out their usual operations.
We have considered whether fixing a charge to cover the labour cost involved in
making available the information sought would help, as required by section 18A of
the Act. However, given the significant amount of work required, and the estimated
time it would take, the University considers that this would not enable the request
to be granted. Any charge would likely need to be significant. An initial estimate
would be $1,748 (excluding GST).
The University is prepared to re-consider this decision if you are able to narrow your
request parameters to an extent that would not require substantial collation and
research. Please let us know if you would like to do that.
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
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].
Yours sincerely
Julia Marshall-Mead Senior Advisor, Official Information and Privacy
Legal Services
Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington
Document Outline
