More than 300 municipalities across the country have provided the Defense Agency with personal data on teenage residents that should not have been shared, Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba said Wednesday.

Ishiba told the House of Representatives special committee on private-information protection that 794 cities, towns and villages supplied data at the request of the agency to assist in recruitment activities.

A majority provided only the details that anyone can access under the Basic Resident Register Law -- name, address, date of birth and sex -- of those of recruiting age, mostly between 15 and 18.

But 332 municipalities supplied additional information, including potential recruits' health and family situations, Ishiba said.

The debate on the issue delayed the planned approval by the committee of a set of bills on private-information protection.

The special committee was planning to vote Wednesday and send them to the full Lower House for approval by the end of the week. But the House of Representatives vote is now likely to take place in early May, after the Golden Week holidays.

Ishiba told the committee session he believes it is a problem the guidelines on data provision by the municipal governments have not been revised despite instructions from the Defense Agency in November to limit the data to the four legally accessible items.

Responding to questions from Susumu Hasumi, a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Ishiba said he will make sure the instructions get through to the SDF's regional recruitment offices, which have created guidelines for desired data with willing municipalities.

Ishiba said the information provided by the municipal governments was "mainly used to send direct-mail" recruitment notices, and emphasized that no data other than name, address, date of birth and sex had been leaked.

Defense Agency officials have said this method of gathering data has been practiced since the mid-1960s, and more than one-third of municipalities have agreed to provide data to the agency.