C17 Territory records

The Directorate maintains its commitment to delivering good governance and compliant records management practices. During the reporting period the Directorate continued to meet its obligations under the Territory Records Act 2002 and related standards.

Records Management Program and Procedures

A review of the Directorate's Records Management Program was commenced during 2011-12. The review will ensure the program maintains best records management practices in accordance with legislative and regulatory requirements. In support of, and parallel to, the updated Records Management Program, the Directorate will review and update its Records Management Procedures. The current Records Management Program and Procedures are available on the Directorate's Intranet and are further supported by regular training.

Storage arrangements

The Directorate's outsourced arrangement with Grace Records Management for the provision of records storage is now in its second year. This arrangement assisted the Directorate to meet legislative requirements regarding compliance with records storage standards, as defined in the Territory Records Standard Number 7 – Physical Storage of Records. The Directorate plans to review the contract prior to its expiry in 2013 to ensure the contract delivered a quality service and value for money.

Record keeping practices

Improving operational record keeping practices across the Directorate remains a priority. The Directorate has a records management component in the induction program for new employees and continued to offer two comprehensive records management training sessions per month. Over the reporting period 116 staff were trained in records management. Increased awareness has contributed to a significant improvement in record keeping practices. In 2010, 23,138 files were created, this figure more than doubled to 47,299 in 2011.

The Student Records Archiving Project commenced in late 2011 to help reduce the quantity of records held on-site in schools. The project was coordinated across all schools, with schools receiving one-on-one records management support to assist in the capture and management of records and in archiving older records to off-site storage.

Records identified in the School Closures Project were transferred to off-site storage for ongoing records management.

Work continued with the identification and preservation of records relating to people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent. This initiative has been undertaken to assist people to establish links with their cultural heritage.

Public access

Since July 2008, the Access to Records provisions of the Territory Records Act 2002 provided public access to records older than 20 years. Directorate records that are older than 20 years were identified and assessed. Requests for access to records are lodged with Archives ACT. Records are available for viewing at a jointly-funded facility within the Woden Library. The Directorate received six public access requests in 2011-12.

Records disposal

The Territory Administrative Records Disposal Schedules (TARDiS) was superseded by a whole of government approach to record keeping during the reporting period. All schedules were subsumed into the whole of government approach. The content of the schedules remains the same and therefore does not impact on current Directorate records management practices.

Table C17.1: Records disposal schedules used by the Directorate

Source: ACT Legislation Register

For more information contact:
Director
Information, Communications and Governance
(02) 6205 7661