Scope
This privacy statement applies to personal information collected by MBIE’s Temporary Accommodation Service function.
Collection
We collect personal information in order to:
- meet our responsibilities under the Civil Defence Emergency Management Plan Order 2015, including to coordinate the provision of temporary accommodation for displaced people following an emergency event, including a natural disaster;
- administer the Temporary Accommodation Service function, including to: match and place displaced people in available temporary accommodation; provide temporary accommodation; make decisions regarding payment amounts for temporary accommodation; and collect payment for temporary accommodation; assist decision-making regarding eligibility for, and provision of, financial assistance for private rental accommodation;
- enforce any legal rights we may have; and
- improve the services that we provide.
We may ask you to provide personal information when you complete an online form or call us.
We may also collect personal information about you from another agency if you may be in need of temporary accommodation assistance.
If we receive information from you or third-party advice that you may be in need of temporary accommodation assistance, but you choose not to access support from MBIE, the information we hold may still be used for statistical and reporting purposes.
If the information is to be published, it will be done so in a form in which you could not reasonably expect to be identified (for example where information is in an aggregated form).
If you do request our assistance, but don’t provide all the information we request, it may impact on our ability to provide you with temporary accommodation assistance.
Holding of information
When you provide personal information, it will be held by MBIE. It may be stored or accessed on behalf of MBIE by authorised third parties (such as third-party contractors) to the extent that is necessary to carry out the purposes for which it was collected, for example for them to administer the Temporary Accommodation Service function or work on the site/systems.
We will store and keep your information secure in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020 and third parties who store or access information on our behalf will be subject to MBIE’s information security and privacy requirements.
Your personal information may also be held by agencies with responsibilities to provide assistance following an emergency event (see Disclosure of information). It will be held in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020.
Disclosure of information
MBIE may disclose information about you in order to administer the Temporary Accommodation Service, including to provide you with assistance following an emergency event.
MBIE may disclose personal information to other agencies which may have responsibilities to provide assistance and services following an emergency event. These include, but are not limited to:
- Ministry of Social Development
- Civil Defence Emergency Management groups
- Kāinga Ora - Homes and Communities
- Ministry of Education
- Ministry of Health
- New Zealand Defence Force
- Te Puni Kōkiri
- The Salvation Army
- The New Zealand Red Cross
- New Zealand Police
- Local councils in areas affected by emergency events, currently including the Auckland Council and Buller District Council
We may also disclose information about you to third parties involved who assist MBIE in the administration of the Temporary Accommodation Service, and to enforce their legal rights, including but not limited to:
- Property managers;
- Accommodation providers; and
- Service providers (for example, transport and power/gas connection in the case of a portable cabin).
These agencies are likely to change depending on the type, and location, of an emergency event that has occurred, so this list may be updated over time. Contact us if you would like to know which agencies we will be sharing your information with based on your event.
MBIE may also be required to disclose information under the Official Information Act 1982 or to a Parliamentary Select Committee or Parliament in response to a Parliamentary Question.
Use of personal information
We will generally only use personal information provided to us for the purpose, or as otherwise set out in this privacy statement. We may also use personal information provided to us for other reasons permitted under the Privacy Act 2020 (for example, with your consent, for a directly related purpose, or where another law permits or requires it).
Records and retention of personal information
MBIE will only retain personal information as long as it is required for the purposes for which the information may lawfully be used.
Public records
Where information (including personal information) provided to or through this site, or to MBIE as part of the administration and operation of the Temporary Accommodation Service, constitutes a public record, it will be handled in accordance with the Public Records Act 2005.
Call recording
As part of our commitment to providing the best possible service to our customers we record telephone calls that are answered in MBIE’s contact centre. This helps us to identify ways that we can provide you with a better service.
We records calls:
- for staff training purposes, helping us to improve the quality of our customer service and to ensure the information we provide is consistent and accurate
- to ensure we have an accurate record of your call, which may be needed to support any transactions that take place over the phone and/or if there is a dispute.
We understand your personal information is important to you, and we are committed to protecting your privacy. We store the recordings securely for two years and destroy them after this period.
Unless we have lawful reason for withholding this information, it will be made available if you request access to a transcript of your call by writing to the Privacy Officer (contact details below).
Rights of access and correction
You have the right to:
- find out from us whether we hold personal information about you;
- request access to that information; and if applicable,
- request corrections to that information.
If we have a good reason for refusing a request for correction, you are entitled to request that we attach a statement of the correction that you have sought to the information.
To ask to see the information we hold about you, or for any other privacy questions, contact:
Privacy Officer
MBIE
PO Box 5488
Wellington 6011
Email: info@mbie.govt.nz
For more information on the privacy laws in New Zealand and contact details for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, please visit their website.
Privacy Commissioner(external link)
Security
MBIE websites have security measures in place to prevent the loss, misuse and alteration of information under our control. In order to maintain the cyber security of MBIE systems and information, MBIE systems are subject to ongoing monitoring (including activity logging), analysis and auditing. We may use information about your use of our websites and other IT systems to prevent unauthorised access or attacks on these systems or to resolve such events. We may use this information even if you are not involved in such activity. MBIE may utilise services from one or more third-party suppliers to monitor or maintain the cyber security of its systems and information. These third-party suppliers will have access to monitoring and logging information as well as information processed on MBIE websites and other IT systems.
Collecting statistical information using cookies via Google Analytics
We may use cookies to gather data about trends in website usage using a tool called Google Analytics. This data will be viewable by website administrators and certain other MBIE staff. It may also be shared with other government agencies. This information is aggregated and it does not identify you personally.
Cookies
Browser or ‘web’ cookies are small text files that are sent by a website and stored on your computer's hard drive to collect information about how you browse the website.
Cookies are used to:
- measure how you use the website so it can be updated and improved based on your needs
- remember the notifications you’ve seen so that we don’t show them to you again
You can read Google’s privacy statement, and access a Google Analytics opt-out tool, at the Google Privacy Center(external link).
You can manually disable cookies at any time – check your browser's 'Help' to find out how (disabling cookies will not affect your ability to use this website).
Data collected may include:
- your IP address
- the search terms you used
- the pages you accessed on our Site and the links you clicked on
- the date and time you visited the site
- the referring site (if any) from which you clicked to reach this site
- the device you used to access the site
- your operating system (e.g., Windows XP, Mac OS X)
- the type of web browser you use (e.g. Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox)
- other things like your screen resolution, the release of your installed Flash version and the language setting of your browser.
This privacy statement was last updated on: 17 July 2023.
