New Zealand Watchdog Cites Children's Protection Department for Privacy Failures
New Zealand's Privacy Commissioner Thursday issued a compliance notice to government department Oranga Tamariki Ministry for Children for failure to comply with the Privacy Act. The privacy office also published the notice.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
It was issued in response to a series of privacy breaches reported to the commissioner that caused serious harm to families, children, caregivers and foster parents, the office said. The breaches related to storage, security and unauthorized disclosure of personal information.
By March 31 next year, Oranga Tamariki must improve staff skills and capabilities and strengthen information access settings, oversight of service providers and accountability and reporting of privacy incidents, the watchdog said.
"Oranga Tamariki has one of the most important roles in New Zealand -- to help safeguard the well-being of our children, particularly those children in their care," said Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster. It's in the public interest to make the compliance notice public because everyone has a stake in the department improving its privacy performance, he added.