Circulars

What’s new or changing

• Councils are reminded of requirements under Division 5 of the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 in relation to maintaining a register of government contracts.

What this will mean for your council

• The Information and Privacy Commission (IPC) has revised the e-learning resource on contract registers to assist agencies in understanding how to comply with their contracts register obligations under the GIPA Act.
• Councils are encouraged to ensure relevant staff members are aware of the e-learning resource.

Key points

• Following the IPC’s audit of universities’ compliance with contract registers in 2015, a regulatory risk with contract reporting was identified and the IPC committed to providing guidance to assist all regulated entities to comply with the requirements under the GIPA Act. A copy of the IPC’s University Audit reports for 2015 and 2016 are available at www.ipc.nsw.gov.au.
• The IPC’s reports were followed in 2016 with the NSW Audit Office’s Special Report: Agency Compliance with the GIPA Act which recommended that the IPC’s support and guidance to help agencies’ understanding of the GIPA Act requirements is necessary and should continue.

Where to go for further information

• The e-learning module is free and can be accessed by registering with the IPC’s e-learning portal at http://www.ipc.nsw.gov.au/e-learning. The current suite of GIPA fact sheets and other e-learning modules can be accessed on the IPC website www.ipc.nsw.gov.au.
• Contact the Information and Privacy Commission at 1800 472 679.
• Contact the Office of Local Government’s Council Governance Team on 02 4428 4100.

Tim Hurst
Acting Chief Executive