Table of Commentary

Background | Comments and responses

Background

Section 13 of the State Records Act 1998 requires State Records to consult with public offices on any proposed standard or code of best practice.

In February 2007 consultation on the proposed Standard on the appraisal and disposal of State records commenced with a call for submissions and feedback. Over the course of five weeks, 22 written submissions on the standard were received. In addition, the proposed standard was the subject of the February Records Managers' Forum attended by representatives from 56 public offices.

Comments and responses

Many submissions expressed support for the proposed standard and noted its usefulness for records management programs and initiatives. General comments included:

• 'clear, balanced and thorough draft document that will assist Government agencies in making sensible and well informed decisions when approaching the sometimes difficult responsibilities of appraisal and disposal, and supporting the five principles with explanatory notes, compliance requirements and advice on implementation.'
• 'Having recently developed functional retention and disposal authorities for its records, the Department understands their advantages and recognises the savings they make in helping to reduce the costs associated with the storage of inactive and unsentenced records. In bringing together many of the appraisal, retention and disposal issues that are covered in other State records documents, the Standard, and also the Appendix on implementing the Standard, will be useful to agency staff in ensuring that records are kept, retained and disposed of in a timely manner.'
• 'This draft standard is a comprehensive document that adequately addresses the question of records appraisal and disposal based on the complementary principles that have already been identified in the Standard on Full and Accurate Records.'
• 'welcome and support the aims and principles of the draft standard'
• 'the Standard will prove very helpful to staff in public offices to use in making decisions when conducting disposal projects, developing retention and disposal authorities and in implementing these authorities in their organisation.'
• 'the Department considers the content of the draft to be comprehensive and in accordance with good practice for accountable recordkeeping.'
• 'The new standard will complement the existing standards ...and assist the University in ensuring its records are managed appropriately. I would like to pass on the University's appreciation to State Records for its work in developing the draft Standard.'
• 'The University applauds the initiative in developing this standard, and notes that it seeks to complement existing standards and legislation.'
• 'Comment on the draft standard was sought from the various branches of the Department and the response was very positive.'

In response to specific comments received from public offices, revisions were made to the draft Standard on the appraisal and disposal of State records. Revisions include:

• minor amendments to text as recommended by public offices to improve the clarity of the document
• changes to the ordering of principles (the Accountable and Authorised principles have been re-ordered), and
• additional text to clarify the issue of Normal Administrative Practice.

The following section contains further information on issues which were identified and State Records' response.

Issues and responses

Ordering of the Accountable and Authorised Principles

Comment

One public office suggested that Principle 3: Accountable and Principle 4: Authorised should be re-ordered as decisions are authorised before actions are accountable.

Response

This change was made to the document as it promotes a greater clarity and understanding of the need for an authorised and accountable process for appraisal and disposal within public offices.

Issue of records created, maintained and disposed of within the electronic environment

Comment

One public office was concerned that the standard did not provide a sufficient level of detail in relation to the issue of records created, maintained and disposed of within the electronic environment and that the same procedural steps were proposed for both paper and digital records. Additionally the public office was concerned that the standard did not make clear that State Records does not accept transfers of electronic records appraised as State archives.

Response

The standard is designed to be format independent, thus principles and requirements apply to both paper and digital records. More detail on sentencing and disposing of digital records will be provided in revised Guideline 12: Implementing a Disposal Authority.

The Government has approved in principle the development of a digital archive, subject to a satisfactory business case. State Records will be able to accept transfers of electronic records as State archives once this digital archive is operational.

Review of retention and disposal authorities

Comment

One public office was concerned at the timeframes suggested in the draft standard for the review of retention and disposal authorities and that for large and complex agencies, reviews every five years of functional retention and disposal authorities would be administratively burdensome and costly.

Response

State Records wishes to encourage public offices to review functional retention and disposal authorities on a regular basis so as to ensure that decisions and retention periods within the authorities are accurate and applicable. In the standard a range of criteria are identified which would trigger such a review, including the age of the authority, changes in recordkeeping requirements, changes in business processes, and changes in administrative arrangements. The period of five years was provided as an example to guide public offices. It is likely that some public offices will need to review their retention and disposal authorities at five years, whereas other public offices may be able to postpone reviews until the authorities are 10 years old due to the stability of the organisation and its business activities. The standard includes advice about triggers so that public offices are able to determine when it is appropriate to review retention and disposal authorities. This information and the requirement to review authorities regularly, have been included in procedures, so that public offices are aware that the disposal authorities can become outdated and inaccurate over time.

Normal Administrative Practice

Comment

Two public offices suggested that the scope of the draft standard should exclude the 'normal administrative practice' provisions contained in the State Records Act (see section 22 and the State Records Regulation 2005). The normal administrative practice provisions permit the destruction of State records which have a very short term value or are facilitative in nature, without the need for specific authorisation from State Records. There was also concern that there should not be a requirement to document the destruction of such records, except through the identification of such records in policies and procedures.

Response

The standard is designed to guide public offices in a wide range of appraisal and disposal processes, including the application of the normal administrative practice provisions in their organisations. Consequently, the scope of the standard has not been amended. The Authorised and Accountable principles, however, have been amended so as to provide greater clarity for public offices on the implementation of the normal administrative practice provisions and the need to identify and document, through policy and procedure, the types of records that are disposed of in the public office under these provisions.

Introduction of compliance requirements

Comment

One public office noted that there had been no timetable for implementation or compliance for the standard and sought guidance.

Response

There will not be a timetable for the introduction of the requirements, as the standard does not establish additional requirements to current best practice records management and the requirements of the State Records Act and existing standards.

However, it is recognised that a number of NSW Government agencies do not currently have a functional retention and disposal authority for their records. Agencies planning or developing functional retention and disposal authorities in accordance with a whole-of-Government strategy expected to be announced shortly will not be viewed as non-compliant with relevant requirements in the standard.

Public offices providing comments

State agencies

• Attorney General's Department
• Department of Commerce
• Department of Education and Training
• Department of Environment and Conservation
• Department of Housing
• Department of Lands
• Game Council of NSW
• Landcom
• Lower Murray Darling Catchment Management Authority
• NSW Businesslink
• NSW Crime Commission
• NSW Health
• Public Trustee NSW
• Roads and Traffic Authority
• State Library of New South Wales
• WorkCover NSW

Health Services/Hospitals

• Hunter New England Area Health Service
• South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Area Health Service

Universities

• The University of Sydney
• University of Newcastle
• University of Western Sydney

Local Government

• Wagga Wagga City Council

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© State of New South Wales through the State Records Authority of New South Wales, 2007.
First published April 2007
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