Dear New Zealand Police,

I would like to know on how many occasions the identities of victims of crimes and complainants have been provided to agencies under the NZPVS.

In particular, I would like to know how many victims of family violence and of sexual violence have had their identities provided to agencies under the NZPVS.

I am a New Zealand resident.

Yours faithfully,

Susan Allison

Dear MCMAHON, Teresa,

Thank you for your response.

The Request to Consent Form available on the NZ Police website does appear to include the provision of consent for the release of information from a person about their having been the victim of sexual or domestic violence.

With regard to your example of victim information being provided in the instance of a homestay host, I do not feel that this explains sufficiently why a victim's identity would need to be released to any agency.

The NZQA Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students, states:

"21.1.1 Signatories must undertake New Zealand Police vetting of all persons aged 18 or over (excluding other international students) resident in homestay households;"

Therefore, the offender themselves would be subject to police vetting and the requesting agency would receive information that the police deemed relevant with regard to his or her offending, negating the need for the victim's identity to be disclosed.

Could you please provide any guidelines or documentation that police use to determine whether to provide information to agencies with regard to a person having been the victim of sexual or domestic violence? And on what grounds, in relation to the Privacy Act, that the police provide this information?

Yours sincerely,

Susan Allison