Adam Irish
[FYI request #18187 email]

21 January 2022

Tēnā koe Adam Irish,
On 14 January 2022, you emailed the Ministry of Social Development (the Ministry)
requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982  (the Act), the following
information:
•  The total level of public funds spent on the Wage Subsidy that went to the
following businesses: gambling based businesses, gaming machine societies,
tobacco-based businesses, and religious institutions.
•  The total level of funding/level of Wage Subsidy provided to strip club and
brothel businesses.
The Wage Subsidy Scheme has enabled rapid support for thousands of New Zealand
businesses during this time of uncertainty and has ensured that employees are able to
remain connected with their employers during the COVID-19 lockdown. The scheme
has been set up on a high-trust model in order to quickly deliver funds to support
workers, families and businesses.

The Ministry has developed an online search tool, with close involvement from the
Privacy Commissioner to ensure compliance with the Privacy Act 2020, for the public
to search for information on businesses who have received wage subsidy payments.
The search tool is available on the Work and Income website  at the following link:
https://services.workandincome.govt.nz/eps/search

To protect the privacy of employees and employers of small businesses, the Ministry
has omitted employers with fewer than three employees from the search tool.
Publishing this information on a public register would make the personal information
of sole traders and other small businesses public. The aim of the search tool is not to
identify individual persons who received the wage subsidy, and the protection of
privacy for natural persons outweighed the public interest for this information.

The tool enables you to complete a search of each business that you require
information about. The Ministry is therefore refusing your request under section 18(d)
of the Act on the basis that the information is publicly available.

Please note that you will not be able to identify whether the business is a strip club or
brothel. The Ministry does not collect information concerning the exact nature of the

applicant’s business. Accordingly, your request for the total level of funding provided
to strip club and brothel businesses is refused under section 18(g) of the Act as the
information is not held by the Ministry and there are no grounds to believe that the
information is held by another department or Minister of the Crown or organisation.

The principles and purposes of the Official Information Act 1982 under which you made
your request are:
•  to  create  greater  openness  and  transparency  about  the  plans,  work  and
activities of the Government,
•  to  increase  the  ability  of  the  public  to  participate  in  the  making  and
administration of our laws and policies and
•  to lead to greater accountability in the conduct of public affairs.
This Ministry fully supports those principles and purposes.
If you wish to discuss this response with us, please feel free to contact
[MSD request email].
If you are not satisfied with this response regarding the total level of funding provided
to specific businesses, you have the right to seek an investigation and review by the
Ombudsman.  Information  about  how  to  make  a  complaint  is  available  at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi nui
pp.
Magnus O’Neill
General Manager
Ministerial and Executive Services
Page 2 of 2

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