C.10.03 Information sharing with other government agencies

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The disclosure of personal information of prisoners and staff to other agencies may only be made to the extent authorised by law.

  1. Requests for personal information about prisoners by another agency are processed in accordance with the relevant Act. An action is not in breach of the Information Privacy Principles if it is authorised or required by law, including but not limited to the following:
AgencyAuthority Particulars / procedures for release
The Police [4th Schedule of the Privacy Act 2020]. Access the particulars of prisoners, including the person’s area of reporting, release date and the conditions of the person’s sentence / order.
The Ministry of Justice [4th Schedule of the Privacy Act 2020]. Access the particulars of prisoners, including their date of release.
The Health and Disability Commissioner [Section 62 of the Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1992]. On notice in writing, the Department is required to furnish information relating to any matter under investigation by the Commissioner.
The Inland Revenue Commissioner [Section 17 of the Tax Administration Act 1994]. On notice in writing, the Department is required to furnish any information and produce for inspection any books or documents the Commissioner believes is relevant to their investigation.
Care and Protection Co-ordinators, Social Workers, and members of the NZ Police [Section 66 of the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989]. On request in writing, information is to be provided by the Department which is necessary for the purposes of determining whether a child or young person is in need of care or protection, or for any care and protection proceedings.
On receipt of a request, Corrections staff are required to answer the request without delay and ensure that:
  1. the names of all persons except the prisoner, child or young person’s are deleted
  2. the offender’s personal details are deleted where these are not relevant to the specified child or young person
  3. a summary of all information relevant to the specified child or young person is provided.
Requests for psychological or medical reports are only released with the consent of Psychological Services or the writer of the medical report.
Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) [Section 280 of the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Compensation Act 2001]. The Department of Corrections is required on request to provide any information which will assist in verifying a person’s eligibility or entitlement or amount of entitlement, including such biographical information as is sufficient to identify those persons, including their addresses.
Ministry of Social Development (MSD) includes Work and Income [Section 11 of the Social Security Act 1964]. The Department of Corrections is required on request to provide information within 5 working days to MSD, without charge, as long as it is needed to determine a person’s entitlements or the financial circumstances or whereabouts of any person indebted to the Crown under the Social Security or Child Support Acts, or it is in relation to payment towards disability or residential care.
There is one process in which information is provided to Work and Income to stop a benefit.
  1. The Department of Corrections provides information to MSD relating to all prisoners on muster (collected pursuant to [Sections 180 - 180B of the Corrections Act 2004]). This is an electronic process where this information is extracted daily and forwarded to MSD for the purpose of detecting prisoners receiving income support payments from MSD while in prison.
The Treasury [Section 70 of the Public Finance Act 1989] The Department is required to provide the following information to the Treasury where prisoner’s trust money remains unclaimed by them after 12 months from the date on which it become payable to them (usually upon release):
  1. full name of prisoner
  2. date of birth (if known) or identification
  3. last known address
  4. name of trust account
  5. location
  6. prisoner number
  7. amount of unclaimed money
  8. balance payable to the Treasury
These details are to be submitted along with payment of the unclaimed amounts to the Treasury.
Immigration New Zealand [Section 181 (2) Corrections Act 2004]
[Corrections (Immigration Information Disclosure) Regulations 2011 regulations 4 and 5] 		The Department is required to provide on request the following information to an Immigration officer:
  1. identifying information about the person
  2. details of the person's offence and sentence (including relevant dates such as the date on which the person is eligible or entitled to be released).

Any concerns about whether an agency is complying with the relevant statutory provisions should be directed to one of the legal advisers at National Office.