Police and the Registrar-General, Births, Deaths and Marriages have begun public consultation on an information sharing agreement that will enable Police to receive information on registered name changes, deaths, and non-disclosure directions.

The Police receive a limited amount of this information already from contact with the public but are not aware of the majority of people who change their names, have died, or have a non-disclosure direction in force, Police Minister Stuart Nash says.

The proposed information sharing agreement will enable the Registrar-General, Births, Deaths and Marriages to proactively provide this information to Police, he says.

The consultation on the proposed information sharing agreement runs from 9 October to 6 November 2018.

After the consultation period, submissions will be considered and the Government will consider a final information sharing agreement. If the Agreement is approved, it will come into effect by mid-2019.