Justice Centre | 19 Aitken Street
DX SX10088 | Wellington
[email address]
www.justice.govt.nz
23/08/2021
Zane Collins
[FYI request #16366 email]
Dear Mr Collins
Official Information Act 1982 request
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request on 10 August 2021 to the Ministry of
Justice (the Ministry) requesting information regarding Ministry funded family violence programmes.
You have asked for:
•
The MOJ "Providers Guidelines / Protocol" for the following Free safety services/courses by
the family court;
o
Children’s Safety Programme,
o
Women’s Non-violence Programme,
o
Men’s Non-violence Programme,
o
Men’s Safety Programme,
o
Women’s Safety Programme
•
How many person of each category were referred to those programmes since 2010 to 2020.
I am now providing you with information in response to each of your requests, however there are
some limitations on what the Ministry can provide to you. Please note that the Ministry does not
hold data for programmes prior to 2014. Programmes, in their current format, were only funded by
the Ministry of Justice from 1 October 2014. Therefore, I am refusing part of your request under
section 18(g)(i) of the OIA.
Provider Guidelines/Protocol
Detailed guidance for providers of family violence programmes is set out in our Code of Practice. The
Code of Practice is split into three parts. I refer you to the three documents attached with this letter:
• ‘Part 1 – Overview’ contains an overview for all Ministry funded Family Violence
Programmes,
• ‘Part 2 – Non-Violence Programmes’ contains information relating to Men’s and Women’s
Non-Violence Programmes and,
• ‘Part 3 – Safety Programmes’ contains information relating to Women’s, Men’s and
Children’s Safety Programmes.
The number of people referred to programmes from 2014 to 2020
I refer you to the tables below for the number of Family Court referrals per year for each of the
Family Violence Programmes. Please note the Ministry is only able to provide the total number of
referrals made in any given period however an individual may have had more than one referral
across this period. There are a number of reasons someone may be referred more than once to a
programme including re-referral from the court, a change in service provider or repeating a safety
programme. Please also be aware as advised above programme data is only available from October
2014.
Table 1 contains information on the number of referrals per year for Child Safety Programmes. Table
2 contains information on the number of referrals per year for Adult Safety Programmes and is
separated by gender. Table 3 contains information on the number of referrals per year for Non-
Violence Programmes and is also separated by gender.
Table 1: Child Safety Programme Referrals from the Family Court between 2014 and 2020, by
Calendar Year
2014*
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Total
Child
149
1,322
1,713
1,911
2,087
2,088
1,947
11,217
*Includes only 1 October – 31 December
Table 2: Adult Safety Programme Referrals from the Family Court between 2014 and 2020, by
Calendar Year and Gender
2014*
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Totals
Female
430
2,086
2,470
2,615
2,750
2,902
2,916
16,169
Male
15
62
48
72
68
68
78
411
Unknown
1
3
9
12
16
28
38
107
Total
446
2,151
2,527
2,699
2,834
2,998
3,032
16,687
*Includes only 1 October – 31 December
Table 3: Non-Violence Programme Referrals from the Family Court between 2014 and 2020, by
Calendar Year and Gender
2014*
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Totals
Female
63
259
269
326
342
388
473
2,120
Male
778
3,535
4,049
4,747
4,761
4,846
5,050
27,766
Unknown
5
7
12
56
49
53
48
230
Total
846
3,801
4,330
5,129
5,152
5,287
5,571
30,116
*Includes only 1 October – 31 December
If you are not satisfied with this response, you have the right to complain to the Ombudsman under
section 28(3) of the OIA. You can contact the Office of the Ombudsman by writing to PO Box 10152,
Wellington 6143; emailing [email address] or calling 0800 802 602.
I trust that this information assists.
Yours sincerely,
Hayley MacKenzie
Acting Group Manager, Commissioning and Implementation
Commissioning and Service Improvement
Ministry of Justice