Written Answers. - Departmental Records.
530.
Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her Department has a corporate policy, a departmental strategy and an electronic document and record management system in place in connection with electronic records; the system in place to preserve electronic records for the future; and if this system allows for the easy searching of records in order to comply with the requirements of and the implementation of the freedom of information legislation and the relevant National Archives legislation. [22841/03]
Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Mary Coughlan): The Deputy will be aware, from my recent reply to him on 30 September 2003, of the procedures in operation in my Department for the retention of electronic records having regard to the freedom of information and national archives legislation.
As regards corporate policy, my Department has a duty to comply with all legislative provisions in relation to electronic records and a separate formal documented policy in this area has not been considered necessary.
The electronic records unit in the National Archives will be working with Departments over the coming months to assess the scope, range, quality and quantity of electronic records whose long-term preservation is required under the National Archives Act. My Department will review policy and operational practices in the light of this work.
The Department has been an extensive user of information technology, including office automation, for two decades and has well-established procedures in place for the management and retrieval of those records. While these are automated as much as possible, the Department's experience has been that, due to the quantity and variety of records, retrieval can often be resource intensive.