Amanda Murtagh
[email address].o
rg.nz
Dear Amanda Murtagh
On 23 August 2021 you emailed the Ministry of Social Development (the Ministry)
requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following
information:
•
What phone calls between clients and the Ministry of Social Development
are recorded?
All calls between clients and the Ministry’s 0800 contact centre staff are recorded, with
the exception of calls to the Allegation Line.
Note that recording begins only when the contact centre staff member is connected to
a client. Parts of the call where a client is listening to announcement messages,
entering their client number, or listening to music while waiting in queue are not
recorded. Before being connected to a staff member, a message is played to advise
the caller that their call will be recorded.
The contact centres also record outgoing calls to clients. In this case, the staff member
advises the client the call is being recorded at the beginning of the conversation.
In both cases, call recordings are used for training purposes to enable staff to learn
how to manage different types of calls and to measure the quality of information
provided by staff to clients.
Calls made to or from individual staff desk phones or cell phones, such as calls to or
from a specific Case Manager’s desk phone, are not recorded (except for voicemail).
Calls transferred from contact centre staff to other phone numbers stop being recorded
when the contact centre staff member leaves the conversation.
The principles and purposes of the Official Information Act 1982 under which you made
your request are:
• to create greater openness and transparency about the plans, work and
activities of the Government
• to increase the ability of the public to participate in the making and
administration of our laws and policies
• to lead to greater accountability in the conduct of public affairs.
This Ministry fully supports those principles and purposes. The Ministry therefore
intends to make the information contained in this letter and any attached documents
available to the wider public. The Ministry will do this by publishing this letter on the
Ministry of Social Development’s website. Your personal details will be deleted and the
Page 1 of 2
The Aurora Centre, 56 The Terrace, PO Box 1556, Wel ington • Telephone 0-4-916 3300 • Facsimile 0-4-918 0099
Ministry will not publish any information that would identify you as the person who
requested the information.
If you wish to discuss this response with us, please feel free to contact
[MSD request email].
If you are not satisfied with this response regarding what phone cal s between clients
and the Ministry of Social Development are recorded, 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.
Yours sincerely
P.P.
Geoff Cook
General Manager, Contact Centre and Digital Services
Service Delivery
Page 2 of 2
Document Outline
