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Parliamentary Questions


Question On Notice No. 1366 asked in the Legislative Council on 12 June 2018 by Hon Alison Xamon

Question Directed to the: Parliamentary Secretary representing the Minister for Health
Parliament: 40 Session: 1


Question

I refer to records management and archiving, and I ask:
(a) for each of the last five financial years finishing 2016-17, for each Government agency within the Minister’s portfolio, could the Minister please provide the cost of records archiving services including:
(i) collection;
(ii) storage;
(iii) retrieval; and
(iv) destruction;
(b) for each of the last five financial years, finishing 2016-17, for each Government agency within the Minister’s portfolio, could the Minister please provide the cost of records management consultancy services provided by:
(i) the State Records Office; and
(ii) private consultants and/or consultancy businesses; and
(c) for each Government agency reporting to the Minister, could the Minister please explain the process by which records held offsite by third-party private companies can be searched and accessed by:
(i) members of the agency;
(ii) members of other Government agencies;
(iii) members of academia; and
(iv) members of the public?

Answered on 22 August 2018

I am advised that:

Department of Health (DOH):

(a) (i - iv)

 

2012-2013

2013-2014

2014-2015

2015-2016

2016-2017

Collection

2,301.69

3,573.76

2,113.18

3,126.43

1,328.20

Storage

29,716.75

33,977.83

37,302.93

37,180.54

31,077.83

Retrieval

7,022.17

5,859.18

5,243.91

8,430.44

11,356.69

Destruction

Nil

Nil

19.54

Nil

143.18

 

(b) (i - ii)

 

2012-2013

2013-2014

2014-2015

2015-2016

2016-2017

State Records Office

Nil

Nil

Nil

Nil

Nil

Private consultants

7,422.20

Nil

13,050.00

4,505.00

2,925.00

 

Health Support Services (HSS):

(a) (i - iv)

 

2012-2013

2013-2014

2014-2015

2015-2016

2016-2017

Collection

 

30,117.34

 

39,019.05

 

53,418.36

 

50,351.12

 

43,400.26

Storage

Retrieval

Destruction

Nil

Nil

Nil

Nil

Nil

(i to iii) Costs for collection, storage and retrieval are all allocated to a single cost centre; itemised information is not available.

 

(b) (i - ii) Nil

 

Children and Adolescent Service (CAHS):

(a) (i - iv)

 

2012-2013

2013-2014

2014-2015

2015-2016

2016-2017

Collection

 

439,519.00

 

347,775.00

 

659,538.00

 

496,465.00

 

528,533.00

Storage

Retrieval

Destruction

 

(b) (i - ii) Nil

 

East Metropolitan Health Service (EMHS):

(a) (i - iv)

 

2012-2013

2013-2014

2014-2015

2015-2016

2016-2017

Collection

Nil

Nil

Nil

Nil

403,949.00

Storage

Nil

Nil

Nil

Nil

261,751.00

Retrieval

Nil

Nil

Nil

Nil

348,422.00

Destruction

Nil

Nil

Nil

Nil

13,726.00

 

(b) (i - ii) Nil

 

North Metropolitan Health Service (NMHS):

(a) (i - iv)

 

2012-2013

2013-2014

2014-2015

2015-2016

2016-2017

Collection

$48,974.00

$18,352.00

$18,378.00

$40,770.00

$30,870.00

Storage

$255,835.00

$363,925.00

$381,604.00

$739,682.00

$408,271.00

Retrieval

$26,424.00

$48,020.00

$68,952.00

$73,419.00

$44,766.00

Destruction

Nil

Nil

$485.00

$4,102.00

$206.00

 

 

(b) (i - ii)

 

2012-2013

2013-2014

2014-2015

2015-2016

2016-2017

State Records Office

Nil

Nil

Nil

Nil

Nil

Private consultants

Nil

Nil

Nil

Nil

$3,600.00

 

 

South Metropolitan Health Service:

(a) (i - iv)

 

2012-2013

2013-2014

2014-2015

2015-2016

2016-2017

Collection

 

$881,989.00*

 

$1,100,881.00*

 

$1,265,405.00*

 

$1,404,656.00*

 

$361,812.00

Storage

Retrieval

Destruction

 

(b) (i - ii)

 

2012-2013

2013-2014

2014-2015

2015-2016

2016-2017

State Records Office

Nil

Nil

Nil

Nil

Nil

Private consultants

$22,950.00*

 

$65,880.00*

 

Nil*

 

Nil*

 

Nil

 

The information was derived by reviewing General Ledger transactions for each of the financial years, and searching by vendor and by keywords related to Records Management Costs.

 

*The responses in parts (a) and (b) for financial years 2012/13 to 2015/16 include information related to the previous SMHS management structure, which incorporates Armadale Hospital, Royal Perth Hospital and Bentley Hospital. The new SMHS governance structure was established on 1 July 2016, following the enactment of the Health Services Act 2016.

 

WA Country Health Service (WACHS):

(a)(i - iv)

 

2012-2013

2013-2014

2014-2015

2015-2016

2016-2017

Collection

 

318,283.81

 

$416,803.67

 

$735,770.46

 

$814,772.50

 

$704,250.05

Storage

Retrieval

Destruction

 

(i to iv) Costs for collection, storage and retrieval are all allocated to a single cost centre; itemised information is not available.

 

(b) (i - ii) Nil.

 

(c) (i) For Department of Health and health service providers, searching and access to records is limited to authorised agency staff and controlled by government agency specific Electronic Records and Document Management System (EDRMS) or legacy recordkeeping processes.

 

(ii - iv) For Department of Health and health service providers, access to and searching of the records stored within third party private companies is not available to members of other Government agencies, members of academia or members of the public. Access to these records as with all other records captured within these Government Agencies are subject to the legislated release of information provisions under the Freedom of Information Act 1992 and agency specific mandated requirements.

 

Health & Disability Services Complaints Office advises:

(a) 

 

2012-13

2013-14

2014-15

2015-16

2016-17

(i) Collection

135.78

210.48

160.59

170.95

52.16

(ii) Storage

1661.58

1767.57

1839.38

1682.51

1236.74

(iii) Retrieval

35.27

21.13

17.10

25.00

5.25

(iv) Destruction

Nil

Nil

Nil

Nil

Nil

Note: All figures are inclusive of GST

(b)  Nil

(c)(i) The Health and Disability Services Complaints Office’s (HaDSCO) administrative records and complaint records are archived offsite by a third-party. The Administrative Coordinator of the Office coordinates the searching and accessing of records at the direction of the Corporate Executive. 

  • Each year, records for offsite storage are archived, each box being affixed with a bar code;
  • A spreadsheet is prepared to document files containing records archived in each box, (approximately 20 files per box); and
  • All archived boxes are transferred through online work orders for archiving. Staff from the office who want to search or access records held offsite make a request through the HaDSCO Administrative Coordinator. The Administrative Coordinator, once approval is provided by the Corporate Executive, arranges the retrieval of the specific box with the requested record through an online submission for delivery to the HaDSCO premises the next day.

(ii) Members of other Government agencies cannot directly access or search HaDSCO records held offsite by third-party private companies. Other Government Agencies are required to provide official correspondence for any request to search and access HaDSCO records. Upon written approval from the Office’s Corporate Executive and depending on the confidential nature of the record requested, the process will be as above under (c)(i). 

(iii) Members of academia cannot directly access or search HaDSCO records held offsite by third-party private companies. Upon written request to the Office’s Corporate Executive and depending on the confidential nature of the record requested, the process will be as above under (c)(i). 

(iv) Members of the public cannot directly access or search HaDSCO records held offsite by third-party private companies. Upon written request to the Office’s Corporate Executive and depending on the confidential nature of the record requested, the process will be as above under (c)(i).

 

Healthway advises:

(a) (i – iv) The following figures represent total costs covering collection, storage, retrieval and destruction. As the overall costs each year are minor, Healthway has only used one financial code for the overall cost, and we are therefore unable to further breakdown the annual expenditure on these services.

 

2012-2013

2013-2014

2014-2015

2015-2016

2016-2017

Total Costs

$852.41

$1,685.31

$1,276.92

$1,421.40

$977.74

 

(b)(i) Nil

(ii)

 

2012-2013

2013-2014

2014-2015

2015-2016

2016-2017

Total Costs

$39,090.82*

$1,267.20

$2,324.96

$9,108.00

Nil

*Note: Healthway introduced electronic records management in 2012/13.

(c) (i) Appropriate records can be retrieved after request and approval.

(ii - iv) Request made to Healthway, request approved and Healthway staff can retrieve appropriate records.

 

Animal Resources Authority advises:

(a)(i – iii) Not applicable

(iv)

 

2013-2014

2014-2015

2015-2016

2016-2017

2017-2018

Destruction

Nil

$10.84

$91.80

$50.60

$60.72

 

(b) Nil

(c) (i – iv) No records are held off site by the agency.