Recordkeeping resources for Local Land Services

Local Land Services are responsible for providing advice and services to landholders and the community. They aim to improve biosecurity, agricultural production, emergency management, and natural resource management. They are responsible for creating and managing records relating to the administration of these functions, and for the legacy records they have inherited from predecessor agencies such as the Catchment

Management and Livestock Health and Pest Authorities, and also the former Rural Lands and Pastures Protection Boards.

By creating and managing records effectively, Local Land Services will be able to meet their legislative responsibilities as well as their administrative responsibilities to landholders and the community.

This page contains links to rules and guidance that will assist Local Land Services in making and keeping records appropriately.

Recordkeeping responsibilities

A record is any information that is created or received in the course of official duties. Records can be in any format, whether digital or paper. This may include paper files, email messages, word-processed documents and spreadsheets.

Under the State Records Act 1998 Local Land Services are required to:

• create full and accurate records of their business
• keep records for as long as needed to provide evidence of the business conducted and to meet legal or other obligations
• destroy records only when they are authorised for destruction
• transfer permanently valuable records (‘State archives’) to the Museums of History NSW, where they will be retained as part of the State’s official archives.

State Records NSW has a leaflet on recordkeeping responsibilities. This leaflet may be distributed to employees so that they are aware of their responsibilities to create and keep records of the official business that they undertake. 

Recordkeeping reminders outlines some common situations where employees should make and save records and information into the organisation's recordkeeping system and/or corporate business system.

Managing digital records

Many records of NSW government offices are now digital in format. They are created, communicated, managed and stored via digital devices, technologies and platforms.

All records created as a NSW government organisation carries out its business are State records, regardless of their format.

Irrespective of the systems in which they are created and managed, records must be able to function as sufficient, reliable, authoritative evidence of the business transacted. Records must also be accessible for as long as they are required to support business and accountability requirements.

Physical records storage Local Land Services should store physical or hard-copy records in ways that protect them from unauthorised access and hazards. For example, water, excessive light and heat, vermin and insects. See the Standard on the physical storage of records and Solutions for Storage for further information.

Physical records should be stored in such a way so that they can be easily located and made accessible when needed.

Disposal of Local Land Services records

Records disposal generally involves destroying records or transferring records to Museums of History NSW for ongoing retention as part of the State’s archives. Local Land Services should only dispose of records in accordance with a retention and disposal authority.

Retention and disposal authorities:

• specify how long different types of records must be kept before they can be destroyed
• identify records that will be kept permanently as part of the State’s official archives.

Local Land Services can use the following authorities to dispose of their records:

• FA399 which was approved for use in June 2018. This authority supersedes the General Retention and Disposal Authority: Rural Lands Protection Board and State Council and the General Retention and Disposal Authority: Catchment Management Authorities which should no longer be used for the disposal of records.
• General Retention and Disposal Authority: Administrative Records for personnel, finance and other general administrative records.

Local Land Services must not destroy records before the minimum retention periods in these retention and disposal authorities have expired.

Records cannot be transferred to private ownership without State Records NSW permission. Records cannot be given away - even if they are duplicates.

State archives

For any records that are identified as State archives in the above disposal authorities, particularly older records not required for ongoing business or other purposes, it would be appropriate to plan for the transfer of these records to the State Archives Collection.

Transferring records involves boxing and listing the records and arranging for collection or delivery. For further information and advice about transferring records see MHNSW.

Records of temporary value

Some records created by Local Land Services have only temporary value and may eventually be destroyed. Local Land Services may destroy records that are not required as State archives when the relevant minimum retention period has expired and if the records have no further value to the Local Land Services. The destruction of records should be done in a way that is:

• authorised
• appropriate
• secure and confidential
• timely
• documented.

State Records NSW has published some advice on the destruction of records. This covers the destruction of hard copy and digital records. Some records may be destroyed as a normal administrative practice without reference to a retention and disposal authority.

For example:

• facilitative drafts and working papers
• duplicate copies of records stored elsewhere
• input forms for data entry
• ephemeral telephone messages
• advertising material and ‘junk mail’.