IN-CONFIDENCE
18 December 2023
Tēnā koe John Walter
Thank you for your email of 27 October 2023 to the Ministry of Social
Development (the Ministry) requesting information, under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act).
On 20 November 2023, the Ministry emailed you to advise more time was
required to response to your request. The reason for the extension was due to
the request for a large quantity of information and meeting the original time
limit would unreasonably interfere with the operations of the Ministry.
For the sake of clarity, I will respond to your questions in turn.
•
Please provide information on how that data is currently stored.
Once a supplier has been registered, their details are stored in a central
database within the Ministry’s client management system. This is updated
frequently as suppliers register and deregister with the Ministry. This is an
internal tool used by staff operating in multiple front-line roles. Please note
that there are no distinguishing categories within this dataset and all supplier
types are contained within it.
•
Please confirm and, if affirmative, provide the entire raw database with
any native categorisation that is already present in your system (I.e.
without any "manual review" of the data to ascertain whether the
supplier accepts payment cards or not).
I have decided to grant your request by way of an excerpt of the Ministry’s
Client Management System Supplier List under section 16(1)(e) of the Act.
Releasing data in the format you have requested would prejudice the interests
protected by section 9 of the Act and there is no countervailing public interest
(section 16(2)(c) of the Act refers).
Certain information has been excluded in this summary, as releasing this would
impair efficient administration (section 16(2)(a) of the Act refers). This
includes Merchant ID, GST Numbers, and address details of the suppliers in
the list. Each piece of information would need to be cross referenced to make
sure this did not breach any privacy protections.
You will note that the information regarding some individuals is excluded under
section 9(2)(a) of the Act in order to protect the privacy of natural persons.
IN-CONFIDENCE
The need to protect the privacy of these individuals outweighs any public
interest in this information.
I will be publishing this decision letter, with your personal details deleted, on
the Ministry’s website in due course.
If you wish to discuss this response with us, please feel free to contact
[MSD request email]. If you are not satisfied with my decision on your
request, 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
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