Compliance with privacy principles
As a general principle Probation Officers must comply with the information privacy principles in their use of personal information received or disclosed except where sections 182A - 182E of the Corrections Act 2004 authorise otherwise.
Reference: Privacy Act 1993
Storing and disposal of CSO list and disclosures under the Agreement
The Agreement for Information Sharing About Child Sex Offenders. permits greater than normal disclosure between the agencies in the case of Child Sex Offenders. [The Privacy Commissioner was consulted about its contents in accordance with the relevant provisions.]
Any CSO Lists received must be treated as strictly confidential.
Information must only be shared at local offices and between agencies on an individual offender basis.
An envelope is to be included with the offender's hard copy file and used to hold any information disclosed pursuant to the Agreement for Sharing Information About CSO. It is to be sealed and forwarded to HO for disposal when the offender is no longer on the national CSO list.
The separate envelope for CSO information addresses needs within IPP5 and IPP6. Forwarding the envelope to Head Office when the offender comes off the list addresses IPP9. The Head Offices archiving and destruction schedules will determine how IPP9 is to be applied. Refer to the following notes on these IPPs for details
Only information Corrections would normally acquire and retain, such as address variations and additional aliases, should be entered into IOMS. All other disclosed information and the disclosure records forms must only be kept in the envelopes.
Compliance with the Information Privacy Principles
Section 182D(2)(c) of the Corrections Act 2004 requires the Agreement for Information Sharing About Child Sex Offenders to set out how the Information Privacy Principles will be complied with.
As a general principle, specified agencies (including the Department of Corrections and its staff will at all times comply with the Information Privacy Principles in their use of Personal Information received or disclosed by them under the Agreement, except where sections 182A to 182E of the Corrections Act authorise otherwise. The references below to personal information are references to personal information received or disclosed pursuant to the Agreement.
The Agreement for Information Sharing About CSO sets out each of the information privacy principles that will be complied with. The effect of the provisions in question has been summarised below.
IPP1: Purpose of collection of personal information
- Personal information may only be collected by a specified agency if it is connected with a function or activity of that specified agency and where the collection is necessary for the purpose(s) outlined in the Agreement for Sharing Information About CSO.
IPP 2: Source of personal information
- Information is not required to be collected directly from an offender.
- Information may be collected from other sources as long as it is for, or relates to, one or more of the purposes in S.182A(3) of the Corrections Act 2004.
IPP3: Collection of Information from subject
- If personal information is collected directly from an offender, IPP 3 must be complied with.
- Under S.182A Corrections Act 2004, it is not a requirement to collect Personal Information directly from an offender.
- The relevant Probation Officer will inform the offender of the Agreement at their first meeting and will advise in writing, of the matters set out in clause 5.9 of the Agreement.
IPP4: Manner of Collection of Personal Information
- Personal information will not be collected by unlawful means, or by means that in circumstances of the case are unfair, or intrude to an unreasonable extent upon the personal affairs of the Offender.
IPP5: Storage and Security of Information
- Each agency is to maintain the security of personal information held by them by protecting it against loss, and unauthorised access, use, modification and disclosure.
- Each agency is to ensure that personal information is disclosed, received or otherwise used only by those officers who have been authorised by their Chief Executive to do so.
IPP6: Access to Personal Information
Each specified agency will have systems in place to ensure that an Offender can have access to personal information held about them and that if an Offender accesses their personal information, they are advised of their right to request a correction of that Personal Information under IPP7.
IPP7: Correction of Personal Information
- When personal information is held on an offender, they will be entitled to request correction of their personal information.
- Each specified agency will have systems in place to ensure an offender can exercise their right to request correction of personal information about them held by the agency in question.
- If an agency is unwilling to correct the personal information in accordance with an Offender's request it will, if the Offender so requests, attach a statement from the Offender of the correction sought to their personal information, so that the statement will always be read with their personal information.
- Each agency that receives a request from an Offender for correction of their personal information will inform the Offender of the action taken by the agency as a result of their request.
- Where an agency corrects personal information as a result of a request from an Offender, or where the Offender provides a statement, the agency will advise any other agency to whom it has disclosed the personal information of the correction to that Personal Information, or the statement provided by the Offender, as the case may be. The agency will provide that advice within 72 hours of making the correction or receiving the statement from the Offender.
IPP8: Accuracy of information to be checked before use
- Each specified agency will take all reasonable steps to ensure that before using any personal information that it holds, it will ensure that the personal information is accurate, up to date, complete, relevant, and not misleading.
- Each agency will ensure the accuracy of personal information so far as possible prior to using it, firstly by checking an Offender's records, and secondly by ensuring that the Personal Information that is proposed to be used is the most up to date version.
- In particular, each agency will ensure that it complies with correct procedures for transfer of information and also meets IPP7, noted above, regarding the accuracy of, changes to, and corrections of, Personal Information.
IPP9: Agency not to keep personal information for longer than necessary
Each specified agency will retain, destroy or erase personal information that it holds in accordance with the provisions of the Agreement for Sharing Information About CSO.
- If an agency determines to retain personal information (or part thereof) despite an offender ceasing to be an eligible Offender (i.e. a child sex offender as defined in section 182B of the Corrections Act 2004) it will regularly review that personal information, and decide whether or not it is necessary to continue retaining that personal information for the purposes for which it may lawfully be used.
- If Police receive personal information as a result of the operation of the Agreement for Sharing Information About CSO and retain that personal information after an Offender ceases to be an eligible Offender (i.e. a child sex offender as defined in section 182B of the Corrections Act 2004), Police will review that personal information (as regularly as is practicable) in order to determine whether or not it is necessary to continue retaining it for the purposes for which the personal information may lawfully be used.
IPP10: Limits on use of personal information
- Except to the extent specified in the next bullet point, a specified agency that holds personal information that was obtained in connection with one purpose will not use the personal information for any other purpose unless the agency believes, on reasonable grounds, that one of the exceptions to IPP10 applies.
- Under section 182A(1) of the Corrections Act 2004 an agency that holds personal information that was obtained in connection with one purpose, may use that information for any of the other purpose(s) specified in clause 3.2 of the CSO Information Sharing Agreement i.e.
- to monitor compliance by the Offender with his or her release conditions, detention conditions, conditions of a sentence of supervision, or conditions of an extended supervision order;
- to manage the risk that the Offender may commit further sexual offences against children;
- to identify any increased risk that the Offender may breach his or her conditions or will commit further sexual offences against children; and
- to facilitate the re-integration of the Offender into the community
IPP11: Limits on disclosure of personal information
- Under section 182A(1) of the Corrections Act 2004 a specified agency that holds personal information is authorised to disclose that personal information to another agency, but only if the disclosure is for, or relates to, any of the purposes specified in clause 3.2 of the Agreement for Sharing Information About CSO.
IPP12: Unique identifiers
No specified agency will, for the purposes of the Agreement for Sharing Information About CSO:
- assign a unique identifier to an Offender unless the assignment of that identifier is necessary to enable that agency to carry out any one or more of its functions effectively; or
- assign a unique identifier to an Offender that the agency knows has already been assigned to that Offender by another agency.
