Privacy

Purpose

The purpose of this privacy statement is to let users of the Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga - Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) website and any other Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga digital channels know when we may collect personal information and what we may do with it. We do not use, share or disclose personal information collected or received through this website except as set out in this statement.

Scope

This privacy statement applies to personal information collected through the HUD website: www.hud.govt.nz.(external link)

Collection, storage and use

You can use www.hud.govt.nz(external link) without disclosing any personal information.

Voluntary disclosure of personal information

You may choose to voluntarily provide personal information through this website (e.g. in the feedback form or when subscribing to news and updates). This information may be viewable by site administrators, HUD staff (as appropriate) and third-party contractors who may administrate or work on the site.

Electronic alerts and newsletters

When you subscribe to one of our alerts or newsletters, the details you provide may be stored in a secure third-party database (e.g. Campaign Monitor). You will be asked to provide your name and email address so we can send you future electronic newsletters. When you unsubscribe to our alert or newsletter, your details will be deleted from the database.

Collection of personal information

HUD may ask or require you to provide some personal information when you complete an online form (e.g. the site feedback form or when subscribing to news or updates).

If you wish to apply for a job with us, you will be required to register your details with us in order to create an account, maintain a profile so we can match your skills and preferences against upcoming positions, apply for positions, sign up for and receive alerts, and manage any applications.

Holding of information

When you provide personal information unless otherwise indicated it will be held by HUD. It may be stored or accessed on behalf of HUD by authorised third parties (such as third-party contractors) to the extent that is necessary, for example for them to administrate or work on the site. We will store and keep your personal information secure in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020 and any agents will be subject to HUD information security and privacy requirements.

Use of personal information

HUD will generally only use personal information provided to us through this website for the purpose you provided it (e.g. to administer, evaluate and improve the site, to improve our services, or to action or respond to the information provided). We may also use personal information provided to us through this website for other reasons permitted under the Privacy Act (e.g. with your consent, for a directly related purpose, or where the law permits or requires it).

Disclosure of information

HUD will generally not share personal information that is provided or collected through this website unless it is necessary to do so for the purpose for which you gave us the information (e.g. to investigate a complaint) or where you consent. HUD will not otherwise disclose personal information provided or collected through this website unless required or otherwise permitted by law.

Records and retention of personal information

HUD 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 any information provided (which may include personal information) to or through this site constitute public records, it will be retained to the extent required by the Public Records Act 2005.

HUD 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.

Security

HUD websites have security measures in place to prevent the loss, misuse and alteration of information under our control. In order to maintain the cybersecurity of HUD systems and information, HUD 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. HUD may utilise services from one or more 3rd party suppliers to monitor or maintain the cybersecurity of its systems and information. These 3rd party suppliers will have access to monitoring and logging information as well as information processed on HUD websites and other IT systems.

Rights of access and correction

Your rights

You have the right to:

• find out from us whether we hold personal information about you
• access that information; and, if applicable
• request corrections to that information

If HUD has a good reason for refusing a request for correction, you are entitled to request that a statement be attached to the information of the correction that was sought but not made.

If you want to check personal information that we hold, please write to:
Privacy Officer
Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga - Ministry of Housing and Urban Development
PO Box 82
Wellington 6140.

For more information on the privacy laws in New Zealand and contact details for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, please visit the Privacy Commissioner's website(external link).

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 HUD 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 Centre.

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.