For local government

Courses for local government | Promoting recordkeeping | Disposal of local government records | Review of the general retention and disposal authority for local government records (GDA10) | Access directions for local government records | Keyword for Councils | Useful resources for local government

The State Records Act 1998 came into operation on 1 January 1999. Under the State Records Regulation 1999 application of parts 2, 4 and 6 (records management, transfer of control and public access provisions) were deferred until 1 January 2000. Parts 3 and 5 (disposal and estray provisions) applied from 1 January 1999. It should be noted that all parts (Parts 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) now apply to local government.

Courses for local government

State Records offers a range of short course training in records management. Courses are generally held at the Sydney Records Centre in The Rocks. One of the courses offered, Implementing the General Retention and Disposal Authority for Local Government Records (GDA 10), has been developed specifically for local government, but a range of other general courses are also advertised on our current training calendar.

Promoting recordkeeping

State Records has developed the What have records got to do with me? and Recordkeeping Reminders leaflets, available to order in bulk from our publications catalogue to help Councils promote recordkeeping to staff.

Copies of this leaflet are available in electronic or hard copy form from State Records.

Disposal of local government records

NSW local and county councils should use General Disposal Authority - Local Government Records (GDA10) for the disposal of council records. The most current version of the General Disposal Authority for Local Government Records (GDA 10) is available from our website and incorporates amendments made to the authority since its publication in September 2000, including:

• a revised section on imaged records (section 2.7) incorporating the rules for the disposal of original records after imaging or microfilming that came into effect with the issue of the General Retention and Disposal Authority - Imaged records in August 2006. For any hard copy versions in your organisation, please insert copies of this Word document at page 16 (the location of the previous section 2.7). Amendment to GDA10 Section 2.7 (doc, 40kb)
• revised footnotes to entries 3.7.5 and 3.7.6 concerning the provisions of the Children's Services Regulation 2004 relating to the retention of records by child care service providers.

Councils should refer in the first instance to GDA10. If there is no disposal coverage for the records in GDA10, councils may use the General Retention and Disposal Authority - Administrative Records (GA 28) as the source of authorisation for the disposal of the records.

State Records does not distribute or make available product or software specific loadable versions of its authorities. Tower Software has a TRIM loadable version of the general authority for local government records (GDA10) available for free download by registered users from the 'downloadable authorities' section of Tower's Customer Extranet. For users of other systems, please contact your vendor or service provider directly for advice or assistance regarding the availability of software loadable versions of authorities.

Review of the general retention and disposal authority for local government records (GDA10)

Proposed changes to GDA10 and the review process

The initial phase of the review has been completed, and re-drafting of the authority has commenced. Based on comments received and initial feedback from the GDA10 Review Group, the objective of the review process will be to focus on:

• rectifying identified gaps in coverage
• ensuring retention periods reflect current legislative, business or stakeholder requirements, and
• amending function, activity and disposal class descriptions to clarify scope of coverage or to remove unnecessary duplication and potential inconsistency in disposal outcomes.

Outline of proposed changes to GDA10:

• analysis and feedback received does not indicate a need for any additional functions, however, there are considerable gaps in coverage, which will necessitate the addition of activities, classes and the expansion of existing classes. To avoid the need for extensive re-numbering and re-sentencing all new entries and activities are being added at the end of the activities/functions. Some renumbering will be unavoidable, for example, where classes have been removed or consolidated to eliminate inconsistencies and duplications.
• the revised GDA10 will remain a self-contained authority - coverage of general administrative, personnel and financial records will be expanded where required and brought into line with that of other general retention and disposal authorities to ensure consistency and compliance with current legislative requirements
• scope notes will be added to all activities and see references will be added to functions and activities where appropriate to assist users
• disposal class descriptions will be revised where required to minimise potential overlap or confusion in their application
• disposal actions for records not required as State archives will be modified to include disposal triggers, rather than having to refer to a footnote
• custody information for records required as State archives will be removed (advice on this will be included in the guidance section)
• the Guidelines for Use will be revised and updated
• the Index will be substantially revised to assist users, and include additional examples of records or specific record types, for example, s.603, s.735A and other certificates will be included in the index. The web version of the Index will be similar to the Consolidated Index for the general retention and disposal authorities and will contain direct links to classes and activities.
• a Linking Table will be developed to assist in the identification and tracking of changes between GDA10 and the revised authority. The Linking Table will map existing GDA10 classes to classes in the new authority and include information on any changes to retention periods or the scope of classes.
• the layout of the revised authority will be similar to that of GDA10, with the exception of the Examples column, which will be removed. Examples of records will be incorporated into disposal class descriptions and/or indexed.
• the date range of the authority will remain the same (1920+)
• the revised authority will also provide coverage for records of certain water supply authorities (e.g. Cobar Water Board and MidCoast Water) and of the Lord Howe Island Board, which have responsibility for and carry out functions similar to Councils
• the revision of the Keyword for Councils (KFC) is not within the scope of this review. Options for the review of KFC are currently being assessed.

Revised functions available for comment and review

Groups of re-drafted functions, with the associated sections of the Index and Linking Table will be issued on the website for review and comment by all Councils, at four to six-weekly intervals. Please check the website after each deadline for new groups of re-drafted functions.

The following re-drafted functions, and associated Index and Linking Table, are now available for review: ENERGY SUPPLY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS, ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, LAWS AND ENFORCEMENT, PARKS AND RESERVES, PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (formerly COUNCIL PROPERTIES), PUBLIC HEALTH and WASTE MANAGEMENT. The revised drafts include State Records' comments and queries and a justification column which includes details of the equivalent GDA10 entry and of any changes to existing retention periods. These will be removed from the final version of the authority when it is issued.

Feedback is particularly sought on new entries added to provide coverage for records not previously covered, proposed changes to retention periods and amendments to descriptions to clarify or extend the scope of coverage. Any comments or feedback on the layout or content of the Linking Table and Index would be appreciated.

Please feel free to forward your comments to Angela McGing, Project Officer at: angela.mcging@records.nsw.gov.au by COB, Friday 2nd of October.

If you require any further information, please contact Angela McGing on the email address listed above or on (02) 8247 8630. Your assistance and time are greatly appreciated.

Access directions for local government records

State Records has developed a set of model access directions for local government records.

The Register of Access Directions also provides a list of councils that have already made directions.

Keyword for Councils

State Records has developed a thesaurus for records control and titling in local government, called Keyword for Councils. This thesaurus has been developed to be in line with the classification scheme used in the development of the General Disposal Authority - Local Government Records (GDA10).

Useful resources for local government

State records has developed a number of  which may assist local government councils in meeting their requirements and best practice. A number of tools have also been developed for small public offices which are applicable to smaller councils.

Recordkeeping In Brief 45  also introduces a suite of documents developed to assist councils in educating councillors about their recordkeeping responsibilities.

The guideline Keeping web records contains an Appendix on 'How do I manage web recordkeeping in local government?'