We also wanted research on literacy and its relationship to imprisonment.
I received a rapid reply which demonstrated that the minister was very much on top of the Corrections portfolio.
She wrote that 9 per cent of the prison population (that's 900 prisoners) and fully one-quarter of community-based offenders have convictions for driving offences.
Minister Collins also pointed out that the relationship between employment and the possession of a driver's licence is strong.
Young people with full or restricted licences are three times more likely to get jobs than those with no licence.
On Judith Collins' most recent watch, there have been some early initiatives in the driver's licence space - let's hope the next minister comes up to speed rapidly.
The new Corrections Minister, Louise Upston, at number twenty in the new National Cabinet, will be highly motivated to shine in her new job and move up the ladder.
With rapidly growing prisoner numbers, there are many challenges that Mrs Upston will face but, somewhat ironically, the biggest one may be to not disturb the progress I have witnessed over the past six years.
In late 2011, I asked one of the Howard League's most intelligent and experienced tutors about the attitude of prison staff to the Howard League's literacy programme.
She thought that a quarter of the staff she'd interfaced with believed, like the Howard League members, that something had to be done about pervasive prisoner illiteracy but three-quarters thought that helping "that scum" was a waste of time.
This attitude has been turning around under the outstanding leadership of Corrections CEO Ray Smith and when I asked the same question of the same tutor in 2016, she reported that a large majority of Corrections staff now understood and supported the Howard League's efforts.
The most important reason for this most desirable change has been Corrections' focus on reducing re-offending.
It is this, our astronomical rate of recidivism that drives New Zealand's disgracefully high rate of imprisonment.
This revolution in Corrections' thinking has been reflected in a far bigger focus on in-jail education and skills training, work on post-release accommodation and employment, and generally better prisoner management.
The Corrections Department is a huge operation with more than 8000 staff.
Change takes time.
The number of sentenced prisoners is slowly falling but the growth in remand prisoners has been rapid. This explains rapidly growing prisoner numbers and this phenomenon amounts to a cautionary tale for the incoming minister.
This rapid expansion of remand prisoner numbers is almost entirely the direct result of a knee-jerk reaction to what was a tragic but isolated incident.
In response to a deranged stalker who murdered his victim while on remand at large, the Government tightened remand rules.
Ministers were wrongly informed that the changes would have minimal impact on prisoner numbers.
This mistake will cost us $1 billion in new jail construction and $100 million a year to accommodate the extra prisoners.
A sensible modification of the remand process could presumably remove at least some of the need for this huge expenditure, and should be seriously considered.
This would mean more sensitive and nuanced remand rules.
This would amount to a great start for the new minister but she'd need to take at least the Labour and Green parties with her.
This shouldn't be impossible.
Whoever governs after the election next year would welcome the $1b extra lump sum to promise as well as the extra hundred million a year.
We should be able to keep the public safe from the very rare lunacy that threatens the public without vast expenditure. Many other civilised countries manage this.
The new minister could make her mark by proposing a bi-partisan approach to incarceration.
Now that would be noticed!
