May Update 5: Official Information Saga
In order to examine the basic claim that the College of Arts as a whole, and particular parts of it in particular were not pulling their weight financially, the AUS asked for the financial figures for all parts of the university. Since the contribution margin model was promoted on the basis that it was not only more fair, but also that it was demonstrably so, we assumed that this kind of information would be readily available. It represents, after all, the core data for the financial comparisons which sustain the claim that redundancies are necessary in the College of Arts. What began as a simple request turned into a saga, which reveals interesting elements about the way the management of this university operates.
First Request
From: David Small
Sent: Tuesday, 14 March 2006 1:06 p.m.
To: Ian Lothian
Subject: Financial information
Dear Ian,
Do you have at hand and, if so, could you please provide me with details of the following:
The contribution margins (in percentage and dollar terms) for each of the schools/departments in your College, as well as for the College as a whole for
1) actual 2004
2) budget 2005
3) actual 2005
4) budget 2006
Thank you for your assistance.
Sincerely,
David Small
First Response
On 3/14/06 5:42 PM, "Paul O'Flaherty, Director Human Resources" wrote:
Hello, David.
The College of Engineering has passed your request below on to me.
Is this request being made on behalf of the AUS?
In any event, can you please direct this and any other query of this nature to the Vice Chancellor in his capacity as employer.
Thanks and regards
Paul
Reply
From: David Small
Sent: Wednesday, 15 March 2006 12:53 p.m.
Hi Paul,
My request was made on behalf of the AUS, but I am not sure what the issue is here.
I wrote to each of the College Managers from Engineering, Science and Business and Economics seeking the same information. I assumed that, since this concerns big-picture numbers that are fundamental to the colleges and the university as a whole, they would be readily available and that the College Managers would be the people most easily able to retrieve them. This is the impression I got from the College of Arts in relation to this kind of information.
Could you please explain what you mean by "any other query of this nature". I would have thought that college-specific information would be most appropriately obtained from the colleges. Are you suggesting that we do not have direct dialogue with the colleges?
Regards,
David
Response
On 3/16/06 11:28 a.m., "Paul O'Flaherty" wrote:
Hi David.
The University prefers that the AUS directs its enquiries for information on University-wide issues through the Vice-Chancellor. In that way, it can ensure we have one clear line of communication between us.
I am assuming that, in this case, the information you are collecting pertains to the ongoing debate about the review in the College of Arts. This as a University-wide rather than a College issue.
There will be many other instances where you will have communication with individual Colleges and Service Units on issues pertaining to individual areas.
Regards
Paul
Reply
From: David Small
Sent: Thursday, 16 March 2006 11:50 a.m.
Hi Paul,
I do direct such enquiries to the VC. The only reason I approached the Colleges directly was because it was College-specific information. Surely, it is the nature of the information, rather than the issue to which it relates, that should determine what avenue of enquiry I should pursue.
Anyway, you have the requests now. Are they ones that you can meet reasonably promptly?
Regards,
David
Response
From: Paul O'Flaherty
Sent: Thu 3/16/2006 12:36 PM
David, you will need to make a formal request to the VC, including the reasons you are requesting the information.
Regards
Paul
Reply
From: David Small
Sent: Friday, 17 March 2006 11:12 a.m.
Sorry Paul. It doesn't work like that. I have asked for the information and, under the Official Information Act, I am entitled be given it. If you want to deny me access to it, the onus is on you to provide reasons for doing so.
Please provide the information requested.
David
Response
David,
I've sent the request to the Vice-Chancellor's office, from where a response will be coordinated.
Regards
Paul
VC’s Formal response:
The VC advised that “data at the individual departmental/school level is not being provided as the contribution margin target is to be met at the College level, allowing Colleges autonomy to internally manage department contribution margins and performance”.
Further he writes: “There is also a practical consideration in that it is not valid to compare the contribution margins of departments and schools across Colleges, as various Colleges use different means of managing College expenditure.”
He continues: “Nor is your question a simple one at the College level. Contribution margins are not readily comparable between years because of a number of devolvements that have taken place progressively over the last three years.”
David’s letter to the Ombudsman:
10 April 2006
Dear Sir,
I am writing to request an urgent review of the refusal (letter dated 7 April 2006) by the University of Canterbury to provide me with information which does exist and which I requested on 14 March 2006. The urgency of this request is that I require the information in order to prepare a response to a change proposal from the university to make eight academic staff redundant. The change proposal was released on 20 March and submissions close on 20 April 2006.
The information I seek is the following:
The contribution margins (in percentage and dollar terms) for each of
the schools/departments (academic financial units) in the Colleges of Engineering, Science and Business and Economics, as well as for each of those Colleges as a whole for
1) actual 2004
2) budget 2005
3) actual 2005
4) budget 2006
In refusing to provide this information, the university cited no grounds compatible with the provisions of S9 of the Official Information Act 1982. I enclose all relevant documentation.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Dr David Small
Canterbury Branch President, Association of University Staff.
Ombudsman’s Reply:
The Ombudman’s Office replied by email and letter. The key sentence is in a letter from the Deputy Ombudsman dated 26 April:
“Informal enquiries made with Professor Sharp have elicited the explanation that the information about schools/departments does not exist.”
After a conversation with the Ombudsman’s office, David sent the following email to all Heads of School/Department/Section
From: David Small
Sent: Monday, 1 May 2006 10:43 a.m.
Dear Head of School/Department/Section
I am writing to seek your assistance with regard to financial information and budgets related to your school or department. Earlier this year, I wrote to the College Managers outside Arts (since we already have the Arts information) requesting the contribution margins (in dollar and percentage terms) of their Colleges and each of the Schools within them for actual 2004, budget 2005, actual 2005 and budget 2006.
The requests were eventually referred to the Vice-Chancellor who refused to provide the information by school/department citing a concern that contribution margins could not easily be compared across Colleges.
I appealed to the Ombudsman, noting that S9 of the Official Information Act limits grounds for refusing to provide information to such things as privacy concerns, commercial sensitivity and national security. When the Ombudsman made inquiries about this matter, he was told by university management that the information that I sought did not, in fact, exist.
When the contribution margin model was introduced, it was presented as being not only more fair, but demonstrably so. I am, therefore, surprised that this information is so difficult to obtain, especially considering that the current plan to make academic staff in the College of Arts redundant rests almost entirely on inter-college comparisons of contribution margins.
In order to progress this matter further, I need to provide the Ombudsman with some evidence that the information I seek does exist.
I am writing to you to ask whether this sort of information exists in relation to your school or department. The identity of the department or school that provided this information would not have to be revealed. In making this request, I would reassure you that there is no whistle-blowing involved here, as the university is legally obliged to share the information that it holds.
If you would like to discuss this matter further, please call me in confidence.
Sincerely,
David Small
President
AUS Canterbury
This email elicited a number of responses from Heads affirming that the information that David sought did exist. It was also followed very closely by a call from the VC’s office advising that the information previously said to be non-existent would be provided.
The information was provided to the AUS President and Organiser at a meeting with the VC on the eveningin of Monday 1 May.
The AUS is now analysing the data provided.
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