24 October 2023
45 Pipitea Street, Thorndon, Wellington 6011
PO Box 805, Wellington
Phone 04 495 7200
M Daley
Emai
l [email address]
[FYI request #24175 email]
dia.govt.nz
Tēnā koe M Daley,
Your Official Information Act 1982 request, reference OIA 2324-01019
I am responding to your email of 18 September 2023 to Te Tari Taiwhenua | the Department
of Internal Affairs requesting the following information under the Official Information Act
1982 (the Act):
“I'm currently researching resource distribution in the NZ online safety sphere. I'd like the
request the following information about the DIA Digital Safety Group broken down by
financial year for the past 5 years - average FTE, revenue & expenditure, & reports
received numbers.”
On 25 September 2023, Te Tari Taiwhenua asked you to clarify your request. On the same day,
you clarified your request as follows:
“To clarify, could I receive the cumulative reports per year for any report relating to
online safety. I see you have the following 6 report options, could you pass on the sum of
all reports received through here, by financial year for the past 5 years. If there are any
other reporting mediums that take reports directed at online safety they should also be
included. Breakdowns on the content of the report are not required but you're if unsure
of whether report data falls in the online safety category feel free to include totals for
each category instead: Report Online Child Exploitation Material; Report Online Violent
Extremist Material; Report TXT Spam; Report Email Spam; Report Fax Spam; Report
other harmful online content.”
I respond to your request below.
Digital Safety Group Full-time Equivalent (FTE)
I am releasing to you a table with the FTE information, as at the end of financial year since the
Digital Safety Group’s (the Group’s) establishment in 2018, listed as
Table 1 under
Appendix
A. This information is broken down by FTE for the Group following the 2018 branch
restructure.
The Group was established in 2018 as part of the Regulatory Services branch restructure. This
involved merging two teams, Censorship Compliance unit and Electronic Messaging
Compliance unit, and establishing an additional team, Service Design, to carry out operational
policy, engagement and innovation functions. As of 2023, the Group includes Intelligence and
Insights, Digital Violent Extremism, Digital Messaging and Systems, Digital Child Exploitation,
and Design, Engagement and Innovation.
As a result of the restructure, there is unfortunately no FTE information for the Group available
for the financial year ending 30 June 2019. We have made every possible effort to locate the
information, however, it is not held within Te Tari Taiwhenua’s systems.
I am therefore refusing your request for this FTE information under section 18(g) of the Act as
the information does not exist or cannot be found.
Digital Safety Group Revenue
I am releasing to you a table with the revenue received since the 2019 financial year, listed as
Table 2 under
Appendix A.
Digital Safety was solely Crown-funded prior to 2022, after which funding was received from
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade as project funding, in addition to the Crown.
Digital Safety Group Expenditure
I am releasing to you a table with the actual expenditure for the Digital Safety Group since the
financial year ending 30 June 2019, listed as
Table 3 in
Appendix A.
Digital Safety Reports
I am releasing to you a table with the reports received relating to online safety over the last
five years to date, listed as
Table 4 in
Appendix A.
The reporting numbers in this table includes referrals from the public, government agencies
and non-governmental organisations, in addition to the reporting webforms available.
The 2019 reporting information on Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) includes referrals to
violent extremism, as the Digital Violent Extremism team was formed and finalised in 2020.
Reporting information on Online Violent Extremism report takes each hyperlink submitted as
a separate report.
Reporting information on email spam for the financial years ending 2019 and 2020 (marked
as ‘N/A’) could not be retrieved due to a server fire. Reporting information on fax spam and
other harmful content does not exist as no such reports were made. I am therefore refusing
your request for this information under section 18(g) of the Act.
Accessing the Ombudsman
You have the right, under section 28 of the Act, to seek an investigation and review of this
decision by the Office of the Ombudsman. Information on how to make a complaint is
available at:
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz. The postal address is PO Box 10152,
Wellington.
Alternatively,
you
can
phone
0800
802
602
or
email
[email address].
Publishing this response
We intend to publish our response to your request on www.dia.govt.nz. This letter, with your
personal details removed, will be published in its entirety. Publishing responses increases the
availability of information to the public and is consistent with the Act’s purpose of enabling
effective participation in the making and administration of laws and policies and promoting
the accountability of Ministers and officials.
Nāku noa, nā
Jeremy Cauchi
Tumuaki | Director Ministerial, Monitoring, and Capability
Appendix A
Table 1: Digital Safety Group Full-time Equivalent (FTE)
Financial Year Ending
30 June 2020
30 June 2021
30 June 2022
30 June 2023
FTE
20.68
31.88
33.38
43.275
Table 2: Digital Safety Group Revenue
Financial Year Ending
30 June 2019
30 June 2020
30 June 2021
30 June 2022
30 June 2023
Revenue – Crown ($ 000)
6,501
9,782
13,877
11,631
12,471
Revenue – Other ($ 000)
-
-
-
137
184
Table 3: Digital Safety Group Expenditure
Financial Year Ending
30 June 2019
30 June 2020
30 June 2021
30 June 2022
30 June 2023
Expenditure ($ 000)
6,501
9,782
13,877
12,191
11,576
Table 4: Digital Safety Group Reports Received
Year
CSAM
Online Violent Extremism
SMS Spam
Email Spam
Fax Spam
Other harmful
2019
4,973
589
2,762
N/A
-
-
2020
6,511
22
8,121
N/A
-
-
2021
9,971
411
365,841
30,286
-
-
2022
6,891
423
541,402
49,822
-
-
2023 (to 25 September)
3,216
441
242,452
35,225
-
-
