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Nearly $2 million in funding over the next four years will provide Archives New Zealand with the capability to establish a comprehensive recordkeeping audit programme across the public sector, the Minister responsible for Archives New Zealand Judith Tizard said today.

"Good recordkeeping is essential to good government and I am delighted that Archives New Zealand now has the capability to carry out world class audits," Judith Tizard said.

Over the next two years Archives New Zealand will establish the audit framework and run pilot audits to support government organisations in their recordkeeping functions. Archives New Zealand will be seeking input from the auditing community to ensure a good result.

From mid 2010 the audits proper will begin and some 2700 agencies will be audited from then until 2016 – that is over 500 agencies annually.

Archives New Zealand administers the Public Records Act 2005 and has already set mandatory standards against which the audits will be measured.  Recordkeeping is a key component of an organisation’s governance and is critical for accountability and performance.

“One of the signs of a strong society is having good evidence of the decisions and actions of government. Good recordkeeping means the public can be confident that government is transparent and accountable,” Judith Tizard said.

“This Budget also recognises the importance of ensuring government records are maintained and a further $880,000 over the next two years has been set aside to identify the volume of records likely to come to Archives New Zealand in the future, and develop options to meet this need over the next 20 to 30 years.

“Once this project is complete government will be able to address storage requirements for the on-going capacity for keeping public archives and ensuring their accessibility for future generations,” Judith Tizard said.

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