Public access to the records of Government is a fundamental right in a democratic society. The State Records Act 1998 promotes the principles of accountability and access by providing for the creation, management and protection of State records and for public access to those records. The access Provisions of the Act establish a 20 year open to public access period and provide for authorising longer periods of protection for sensitive records through the making of access directions.
Creating and capturing records to document activities facilitating the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009, including the processing of formal applications, handling of informal requests, conducting of internal reviews and the release of information, enables your organisation to demonstrate that the process was undertaken transparently and accountably.
Records provide an audit trail that can support organisational decision-making and provide transparency. As a number of decisions are reviewable under the GIPA Act, the organisation should build requirements for records creation into procedures for GIPA activities and make sure that all staff are aware and familiar with the requirements.
This guidance has been prepared to enable records managers to understand the relationship between records management and the GIPA Act, the search process, and to inform and assess recordkeeping processes in relation to GIPA. It has been prepared in consultation with the Information and Privacy Commission (IPC) as the agency with oversight for the GIPA Act.
In this context, a publication includes any form of information which is published, intended to be made available to the public or able to be accessed by the public. It also includes published information issued or made available to staff within the organisation, e.g. a procedure manual published on the organisation's intranet. Publications can be hardcopy, online or in another format, and with or without an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) or International Standard Serial Number (ISSN).
Advances in technology have ensured that it is now easy to create, replicate and share digital images. However, these images generally take up a lot of storage space are more susceptible to abuse or human error. Therefore it is important to carefully address issues regarding the capture, management and disposal of digital images, particularly if they are to be used for evidentiary purposes.
Sentencing of records is an activity that should be part of every NSW public offices' Records Management Program.
The whole of government e-Recruitment system is used by an increasing number of government agencies to manage the recruitment process. While in the majority of cases it is suitable to retain most of your short term recruitment records in e-Recruitment, certain records relating to successful applicants must be exported to an agency’s own corporate recordkeeping system for retention as part of the ongoing management of their appointment and service.
Archival appraisal is perhaps the most important — and certainly the most final — decision-making function that an archives institution undertakes. A decision not to keep records as archives is forever: once the records are gone, they cannot be brought back. A decision to keep records as archives is also forever: it involves an explicit commitment to apply the resources needed to preserve them — and to keep applying resources — for as long as the archives survive.
The purpose of this document is to establish a policy framework for the conduct of records appraisal in the NSW public sector and to state fundamental objectives to guide the identification of State archives.
This page contains answers to questions we are asked on a regular basis regarding personal information and recordkeeping. It will be added to as questions arise. These are short and general answers - please contact us for more detailed responses.
The State Records Act 1998 applies to public sector bodies referred to as public offices.
Records and information are at the core of NSW Government business and are core assets. Records and information help organisations plan for and achieve short and long term outcomes that are relevant and valuable to the community, business and government.
The Recordkeeping Standards & Advice team developed presentation slides to assist public sector organisations raise awareness of the importance of good recordkeeping.
Personnel records documenting the management of employees are important records in all organisations. Some of these need to be maintained for long periods of time, often after an employee has left the organisation, in order to protect ongoing rights and interests of the employee and the organisation. Personnel records that contain information about individuals are also likely to be highly sensitive and personal and must be adequately protected from unauthorised access.
This advice should be used when a public office or part of a public office is being privatised.
The purpose of this section of the guidelines is to discuss what planning is required for business process digitisation programs to ensure that the right records are selected and that the benefits of business process digitisation can be realised, costs managed and risks mitigated.
The purpose of this section of the guidelines is to describe how to manage original paper records in digitisation projects.
Under the terms of Part 2 of the State Records Act 1998, public health organisations which are part of the NSW public health system are required to meet standards for records management that are issued by State Records. This page contains guidance that will assist public health organisations to make and keep records appropriately and comply with their obligations under the Act.
Public schools in NSW are responsible for creating and managing records relating to school administration. By creating and managing records effectively, schools will be able to meet their legislative responsibilities as well as their administrative responsibilities to teachers, students and parents.
This page contains links to rules and guidance that will assist schools in making and keeping records appropriately.