Privacy Statement

This privacy statement is for The Pacific Health Scholarships scheme. The scheme is funded by Te Whatu Ora | Health New Zealand.  The Pacific Health Scholarships support the development of our Pacific health and disability workforce and provides better access to health services opportunities for Pacific communities. Find out what personal information is collected if you are a scholarship applicant, where it's kept, and who can access it.

Personal data of scholarship applicants will be collected for the purpose of contacting the applicant and verifying eligibility e.g., Name, address, phone number, DOB, ethnicity, ID Verification.

References are provided by the applicant. The applicant must obtain permission from referee before providing referees’ details. Referee data is obtained, including Name, phone number, email address. This is to enable Fund Managers to verify the applicants eligibility, if required. Please make sure you obtain consent from your referee to share their details. Te Whatu Ora will only collect, store and use the information for the purpose of the application only

No clinical data is captured. No applicant’s identifiable data is collected (since it is already on My Health Account).

Applicant data is visible to Te Whatu Ora Fund Managers, and Le Va (external link) (external provider, Privacy policy - Le Va (external link) who are contracted to administer the scheme).

Other third-party reviewers / applicant assessors will have access to application responses provided. Please note this information will be anonymised to reviewers using role-based permissions.

To apply for a Te Whatu Ora Pacific Health Scholarship, you first need to create a My Health Account – part of this process is having your identity verified. My Health Account does not collect health information.

Registration for Te Whatu Ora Pacific Health Scholarships scheme is voluntary by consent.

We may update this privacy statement from time to time. Please check this privacy statement regularly for modifications and updates. This privacy statement was last updated on 28 November 2025

We may collect the following personal information from you for the purpose of the scholarships scheme: 

• Full name
• Date of birth
• Country of birth
• Ethnicity
• Phone number
• Email address
• Residential address
• Residency or citizenship status
• Tertiary enrolment status
• Intended field and course of study.
• Academic record
• Contact information of a referee for your application

This information is for the purpose of confirming that you are of indigenous Pacific descent.

If you choose not to provide us with your personal information, then your application may be impacted.

This information is held by Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora

Te Whatu Ora’s Pacific Health Scholarships scheme may also collect personal information about you indirectly from your nominated referee. The name and contact details of third-party may also be collected where practicable as part of this scheme, and they may need to sign a consent form. Referee data will include Name, phone number, email address. This is to enable Fund Managers to verify the applicant’s eligibility, if required.

It is your choice whether to provide your personal information as part of the registration to the scholarships scheme. Please note that it is mandatory for applicants to access the scheme through registration on My Health Account because this is the registration platform and process that is being used by Te Whatu Ora for this scheme.

If you choose not to provide the scholarships scheme with your personal information, then you may not be able to apply.

At any time you can opt out from the registration and the application process.

Information that is provided is held by Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora.

We may use personal information for the purposes of your application, including: 

• Assessing and reviewing your scholarship application to Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora. 
• Verifying and/or validating the information collected during the application process. 
• To correspond with you.  
• To confirm with your referee that you are of Pacific descent. 
• If approved, we need to confirm your study with your tertiary provider that you are an enrolled student to make the scholarship payment. 

We may share your information with external people for the purposes of assessing your application. The information shared with external people (Pacific Scholarship Panel Assessment) will not contain any personal identifying information. We are only disclosing: 

• Your intended qualification and tertiary institution.
• Your answers to the four personal statements in the Pacific Health Scholarship application.

We may share your information including full name and contact details with tertiary providers to validate enrolment details and payment of scholarship against student loan. 

We may share your information with external people for the purposes of assessing your application. The information shared with Pacific Scholarship Panel Assessment members will not contain any personal identifying information. We are only disclosing:

• Your intended qualification and tertiary institution.
• Your answers to the four personal statements in the Pacific Health Scholarship application.

We may share your information including full name and contact details with tertiary providers to validate enrolment details and payment of scholarship against student loan.

Applicant data is visible to Te Whatu Ora Fund Managers, and Le Va (external link) (external provider, Privacy policy - Le Va (external link) who are contracted to administer the scheme).

Third party reviewers / applicant assessors will have access to application responses provided.

Applicants will need to read and agree to the Terms of Use (ToU) during the application process

Obligations under the Public Records Act 2005 will be met as per the following: Data will be created and maintained as per Section 17 of the Public Records Act 2005.  Data will be retained as per Section 18. The Team are working in partnership with the Te Whatu Ora Records Management Team to ensure metadata tagging is in place to ensure data is disposed of in accordance with Archives NZ General Disposal (GDA6). We only keep your personal information for as long as required for the purposes outlined in this privacy statement and in accordance with the law.
External provider LeVa will only be able to see the information until the round is complete.

Data is stored in Microsoft Dataverse within Te Whatu Ora Azure tenancy hosted in Microsoft Azure Data Centres in Sydney Australia. Documents collected and/or generated as part of the solution will be stored in Te Whatu Ora's SharePoint hosted in Microsoft Azure Data Centres in Sydney Australia. We take reasonable steps to ensure your personal information is protected against loss, unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure, or other misuse. Standard security safeguards are in place in conjunction with Te Whatu Ora’s information security standards.

You have the right to access any information we hold about you and ask us to correct it if you think it is wrong.

To access any personal information held by us, or if you wish to correct your information, please email PHS2026@tewhatuora.govt.nz

When making a request to access or change your information, please include:

• your name
• contact address (email or postal)
• contact phone number
• details of the information you want or want to correct - this needs to be as clear and specific as you can make it. We may ask you for more details.

Please note that before we can provide you with your information or make any changes we need to be satisfied about your identity. To do so, we may need to ask you further questions or to view identification which establishes your identity.

Requesting information on behalf of someone else

If you are requesting information on behalf of someone else, you will need to provide their authorisation or other documentation to support that you have the right to do so.

If you have any queries or concerns about how your personal information has been managed, please contact us to see if we can resolve the problem. In the first instance, please send your enquiry to: PHS2026@tewhatuora.govt.nz

• Email us at hnzprivacy@tewhatuora.govt.nz  
• Write to us at Privacy Officer - Te Whatu Ora, PO Box 793, Wellington 6140, New Zealand 

If you’re not satisfied with our response to your concerns, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. For more information see the  Office of the Privacy Commissioner website (external link).

TBC