Note: For current information sharing guidelines under the Family Violence Act 2018 and the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 see records #6320 and #6321 published in June 2019.

The Family Violence Act 2018 (previously the Family and Whānau Violence Legislation Bill) was passed by Parliament in November 2018 and will come into force on 1 July 2019. One of the significant changes the Act makes is to create new rules for family violence agencies and social services practitioners around sharing personal information. This change recognises that sharing the right information with the right people at the right time can ultimately save lives.

Under the Act, family violence agencies and social services practitioners (the sector) will be enabled to share information when it is safe and appropriate to do so. The Act provides clear authorisation for the sector to collect, use, request and share personal information for permitted purposes. It also clarifies that the sector has a duty to consider sharing if it may help protect a victim, or if it receives a request for information for a permitted purpose.

To assist the sector in implementing the new provisions, the Ministry of Justice developed three draft documents: an Information Sharing Guidance document, an A3 poster and a onepage overview (the draft Guidance, collectively).

These resources aim to provide detail and certainty on when, how and why information relating to family violence can be shared. The draft Guidance captures the relevant legislative provisions that need to be considered when sharing information, so that the sector will not always need to refer to other legislative requirements. It also sets out clear rules and safeguards around how personal information is to be treated during its lifecycle – from collection, to storage, to sharing and final disposal.

The draft Guidance was released for public feedback in August 2018. Feedback was sought in three ways: an online survey seeking feedback from the sector; facilitated workshops with government officials, social services practitioners and family violence agencies; and conversations with victims. Overall, feedback on information sharing was positive, with the sector recognising the importance of agencies having a more complete picture to better understand and address family violence.

This report summarises the feedback received across the three methods, and highlights the key themes in each. (Introduction).

To see the draft guidelines documents and for more background information see the infomration sharing guidance webpage and the NZFVC news item (August 2018). Record #6151 n