For the Record - October 2024

Recordkeeping

State Records Regulation 2024

The new State Records Regulation 2024 is now available at State Records Regulation 2024 and replaces the State Records Regulation 2015.

The new regulation includes:

• revised and updated Guidelines on Normal Administrative Practice, and
• requirements on the transfer of State records to Museums of History NSW (MHNSW).

Our website contains information on other obligations under the State Records Act 1998.

Reminder - consultation on revised Standard closes 1 November

We recently requested public office feedback on the proposed revised Standard on records management.

A copy of the revised Standard and information on the key changes are available here.

Submissions on the revised Standard on records management will be accepted until Friday 1 November 2024 and may be sent by email to govrec@staterecords.nsw.gov.au or by post to State Records NSW, PO Box 516, Kingswood NSW 2747.

Records Managers Forum – 7 November, 10am-11am

Our special guest at this Forum is Rachel McCallum, NSW Information Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the Information and Privacy Commission, and State Records NSW Board member.

Rachel will discuss the work of the Information and Privacy Commission NSW and its relationship to recordkeeping and the work of State Records NSW.

Register here to attend.

Refreshed eLearning modules now available

Training on recordkeeping obligations is now available through an updated suite of eight eLearning modules on the training resources page of our website.

The modules are structured to provide targeted information on the recordkeeping responsibilities of all public office employees, and the additional responsibilities of Senior Responsible Officers and records and information managers.

Each module takes 20 to 30 minutes to complete.

We ask that public offices discontinue the use of any older versions of the modules as local SCORM files in their own eLearning platforms as they may not reflect current legislation and guidance.

We are currently testing new SCORM files that will automatically update when State Records NSW makes any changes to the content. If you would like to be considered for inclusion in this testing, please contact us at govrec@staterecords.nsw.gov.au .

Seeking feedback on proposed amendments to GA28  

The General retention and disposal authority: administrative records (GA28) identifies common and general administrative records created and maintained by NSW public offices which are required as State archives, and provides approval for the destruction of other records after minimum retention periods have been met.

The following amendments are being considered to GA28:

• removal of the 1940 date limiter, meaning that GA28 will also apply to pre-1940 records
• additional entries to cover registrations of interest to serve on panels
• amendment of customer service entries to cover logins for portals etc
• addition of notes to clarify entries under GOVERNING & CORPORATE BODIES, INFORMATION MANAGEMENT and PERSONNEL - Employees service history.
• additional entries under STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT - Grant funding to cover grants distributed by most public offices.

Further details are available on our website. Feedback is due by 8 November.

Retention and Disposal authorities

The State Records NSW Board recently approved Retention and Disposal Authorities (RDAs) for:

• FA446 - Justices of the Peace registration and management
• FA447 - Registration of architects
• FA448 - Border fence maintenance

Amendments were also approved for the following RDAs:

• DA220 - Operational records (Police)
• FA387 - Primary and secondary education
• FA412 - NSW Crime Commission  

A listing of approved disposal authorities is available on our website, including a directory of the disposal authorities that can be used by each public office.

The revised RDA for local government records is due to go to our Board for approval in December. We plan to issue the revised RDA in Q1 2025, at which time we will also revoke GA39. You can continue to use GA39 until it is revoked.

Initial State Records NSW web content is live on nsw.gov.au

We have begun to upload revised content to our new home on the nsw.gov.au platform.

This is the first step in moving the whole website to nsw.gov.au, as part of NSW Government’s OneCX Program.

We continue to work closely with the OneCX team at the Department of Customer Service to refresh existing content and enhance useability and navigation, to provide an improved digital experience for users.

Our existing website remains live and active until we complete the migration, and we will provide further updates as we progress with the migration.  

Checkout the latest changes here.  

Case study - collaborating with public offices

State Records NSW is a responsive regulator and our approach to regulating is outlined in the Regulatory Framework for the State Records Act 1998. We aim to improve compliance with the State Records Act through cooperative and collaborative engagement and relationships with public offices.

But what happens when something goes wrong with a public office’s records management?  In these situations we seek further information from the public office to understand what has happened and why, and then support, collaborate and actively encourage the public office in its efforts to improve records management.

Our recent work with a public office illustrates how this approach works. A public office and State Records NSW were advised that a quantity of hardcopy records had been located in a building that was no longer used for government purposes.  State Records NSW sought further information from the public office to understand what types of records had been located and the actions that the public office had taken to secure and protect the records.

The public office advised us that it had recovered the records and was storing them safely while they worked through a process to prepare a detailed inventory of the records in preparation to sentencing and disposing the records (including transferring some records to the State Archives Collection). Additionally, the incident provided the opportunity for the review of processes when decommissioning a building to ensure that records would not be left when buildings were vacated.

State Records NSW was briefed regularly by the public office on the work that they were undertaking and also contributed feedback to the improvements to process/procedures to ensure that this situation wouldn’t occur again. The public office identified that having access to records expertise to discuss treatment plans as the issue was being operationally assessed, meant that risks were managed in real time and noted that the ongoing ‘sleeves up approach’ by State Records NSW is very much appreciated.

The public office credits the existing supportive relationship built and fostered through regular continuous improvement focused meetings as being critical in delivering the best outcomes in time critical records related incidents and how they continue to improve records management in the public office.

Museums of History NSW updates

Case study – developing a Transfer Plan

The State Records Act requires public offices to submit a Transfer Plan to Museums of History NSW (MHNSW) for the transfer of State records.

The case study available here  outlines a suggested approach for developing a Transfer Plan based on six key steps followed by the (fictitious) Department of Records.

As outlined in the case study, their records and information management team: (1) identified existing records; (2) assessed stored records; (3) conducted record discovery; (4) estimated physical record quantities; (5) assessed digital records; and (6) sought feedback and endorsement.

The case study also shows the information submitted in their Transfer Plan to MHNSW

If you have any questions or are seeking assistance in developing a Transfer Plan, please contact the Agency Services team at  transfer@mhnsw.au