Recordkeeping guidance for Ministers' Offices

Introduction

This guidance provides information regarding the creation and management of Ministers Offices' records. It supports Ministers Offices in meeting their obligations under the State Records Act 1998.

Offices of New South Wales Government Ministers are 'public offices' as defined in section 3(1) of the State Records Act 1998.

What are State records?

Information created or received in the course of official duties by a Minister or their staff is a State record. 

Records can be in any format, from any source, and on any media. Examples of record formats are:

• digital and physical documents created or received, using applications such as Office 365, Lotus Notes and G-Suite
• messages sent or received via mobile applications such as WhatsApp
• digital and physical correspondences sent or received
• audio visual recordings of portfolio-related events attended by the Minister
• media releases from the Minister's Office posted on website or social media.

Records management obligations

The State Records Act 1998 (the Act) establishes a number of responsibilities or obligations for Ministers' Offices and their staff. Briefly, these are:

• create and maintain full and accurate records of any official government business
• retain those records for as long as required
• dispose of those records legally and appropriately
• transfer records as State archives to Museums of History NSW (MHNSW)
• authorise public access to records.

Each Minister’s office needs to ensure that it has appropriate systems, policies and procedures in place to meet these obligations. This includes ensuring that all employees are aware of their responsibilities to create and capture records of the official business that they undertake on behalf of or support of the Minister.

Creating and maintaining full and accurate records

Records should be created of all meetings or activities related to official business or where final decisions are made on departmental or government policy, operations and business. 

Examples of activities where records should be created and maintained

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Common activities and what to document

In creating records, it is essential that information relevant to an activity be documented. A risk assessment should be conducted to determine what level of documentation is required.

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Standard rules to help manage records

To better support general management, retrieval, access and eventual disposal of records, we recommend the following business rules for emails, social media and the ministerial network or share drives.

Emails

1. Group received and sent emails under the following categories:
   • administrative records - Finance, HR, Procurement
   • enquiries from the public
   • official Cabinet records
   • portfolio records (may be grouped according to cluster / agency name / program or project name / events)
   • political / constituency / personal records
2. Delete ephemera and unwanted emails such as subscriptions, spams, agency newsletters
3. Delete personal emails
4. Regularly empty deleted items folders
5. Unsubscribe from unnecessary mailing lists
6. Ask to be taken off group emails that don't apply to the Minister's Office
7. Practice 'only handle it once' (OHIO) method.

Social media accounts

This only applies to the social media accounts of Ministers. Only social media posts sent or received during their term of office are State records.

1. Only use official accounts for social media postings, etc., as a Minister
2. Keep personal, party/constituency social media accounts separate. Don’t use personal social media accounts for Ministerial/portfolio business.
3. If the social media post is publicly available, then it should remain publicly available.

It is also recommended that social media accounts of Ministers be verified through the social media site to ensure continued accessibility. The verification badge provided by these sites for high profile accounts provides greater credibility, increased social presence and prevention of identity misuse.

Ministerial network or share drive

Group records created, received or saved under the following categories:

• administrative records - Finance, HR, Procurement
• enquiries from the public
• official Cabinet records
• portfolio records (may be grouped according to cluster / agency name / program or project name / events)
• political / constituency / personal records.

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Retention and disposal of records

Ministers' offices need to retain records for certain periods of time to provide evidence of the business conducted or to meet legal or other obligations. Some records are required to be retained permanently as part of the State Archives collection.

The General retention and disposal authority: records of a minister’s office permits Ministerial or Departmental staff to destroy certain records after they are no longer required for administrative purposes.

For financial, personnel and other administrative records, use the General retention and disposal authority: administrative records.

State archives

The General retention and disposal authority: records of a minister's office also identifies which records are required to be transferred as State archives to MHNSW.

The following are examples of records considered as State archives:

• briefing notes and correspondences
• diaries of Ministers such as emails and Outlook calendars of Ministers, including attachments
• social media content posted or received from the Ministers' accounts during their term of office
• media releases. 

Official Cabinet records

Follow protocols set by the Department of Premier and Cabinet Secretariat.

Private records

Records created or received by the Minister in their capacity as Member of Parliament (such as those related to constituency matters), or as a member of a political party or as a private citizen are not 'State records' under the State Records Act. Manage or dispose of these records in accordance with the wishes of the Minister.

Budget, Procurement, Travel and Personnel records

Manage or dispose of these records in accordance to the requirements under the Members of Parliament Staff Act (MOPS Act) or as set by the Department of Premier and Cabinet.

The following records can be routinely disposed of if no longer required for reference other purposes

• media monitoring reports
• subscription service updates, alerts and newsletters
• rough notes of meetings and conversations where a formal record has been made
• solicited and unsolicited advertising materials

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Transfer records as State archives to MHNSW

Records classified as State archives can be transferred at any time during a Minister's term of office or when there is a change of Minister or government.

Minister's emails and electronic calendars

These records must be transferred electronically as State archives, including all relevant attachments. It is recommended that:

• emails relating to portfolio business are classified into categories
• all relevant attachments such as meeting agenda, meeting minutes, reports and details of attendees must be retained, until transfer to MHNSW.
• emails and diary entries relating to personal, constituency or political records are separated, removed or deleted before transferring to MHNSW.
• electronic diaries relating to portfolio business, including all relevant attachments such as meeting agenda, meeting minutes, reports and details of attendees must be retained, until transfer to MHNSW. Extracts from diaries of Ministers published online are not sufficient to meet this requirement.

Social media records

Ministers are responsible for ensuring that the social media records they create as part of official government business are maintained and remain publicly accessible.  

Only social media interactions relating to the Minister's portfolio responsibilities and during the Minister's term of office are required as State archives. Where personal accounts are used for portfolio business, social media interactions can still be considered official/State records for the purposes of the State Records Act.

It is recommended that social media posts relating to personal, constituency or political records be removed prior to transfer to MHNSW. If they are not removed they will remain part of State archives.

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Authorise public access to records transferred as State archives

Records transferred as State archives need to be authorised as being available for future public access. The Act currently provides an open public access period for records after 30 years. From 1 January 2023 this will reduce to 20 years. Some records, such as media releases and transcripts of speeches, can be made available earlier.

The Minister or delegate can authorise when the public can access records transferred to the State archives collection by notifying MHNSW.

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Caretaker period

Below are some of the key activities that Ministers’ Offices can do before, during and after the caretaker period:

1. Identify and describe types of records held by the Minister's office
   • physical records held onsite or offsite
   • Ministerial network
   • business systems
   • social media accounts
2. Remove any encryptions or electronic protections in your documents, workbooks or presentations. 
3. Follow protocols regarding Official Cabinet records.
4. Separate enquiries and portfolio records from political/constituency or personal records. 
   • Enquiries and portfolio records will need to be transferred to NSW State Archives
   • Political, constituency or personal records may be disposed of at the Minister's discretion.
5. Authorise when the public can access records transferred as State archives - from the Minister or delegate by notifying MHNSW.  

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Published November 2018/Amended 2022