Special Reports
Unauthorised Destruction of State records and archives from the Department of Education’s Student Information System
- The State Records Commission has tabled its first Special Report in the Western Australian Parliament on a contravention of the State Records Act 2000.
- The report concerns the premature destruction of certain State records and loss of State archives at the Department of Education.
- The precise extent of the losses will never be fully identified.
- The destruction of student records related to poor practices and system configuration, rather than malicious intent.
The State Records Commission’s report, Unauthorised Destruction of State records and archives from the Department of Education’s Student Information System, tabled in Parliament today.
The Commission has concluded that the premature deletion of student records from the School Information System (SIS) by hundreds of schools constitutes a contravention of the State Records Act 2000 (the Act) by the Department of Education.
The SIS is an information management system, used by most Western Australian government schools to store and maintain student records, including on enrolments, absences, transfers and student behaviour.
The matter detailed in this report is considered by the Commission to be significant due to the loss of State records and archives, and the lack of knowledge of what State records and archives are lost.
While the Department of Education collects and manages student information in a number of systems that were not impacted by this matter, the premature loss of records from the SIS has the potential to impact the use and availability of schooling information regarding children for legal proceedings and other processes, such as attendance records, enrolment and admission records, addresses listed, behavioural and school reports. These losses may also impact the investigation of historical abuse allegations and other matters.
According to information provided to the Commission, one exercise in cross-checking by the Department of Education indicated that around 660 schools had missing student records, totalling 9,934 records. At least 218 schools deleted records and archives without authorisation from the Department of Education and therefore did not comply with the Department’s record keeping plan. The Commission understands that attempts to restore the affected records from individual school backups has mostly been unsuccessful.
In her role as Chair of the State Records Commission of Western Australia (ex-officio), Auditor General Caroline Spencer said the destruction of the records was a significant matter and that is why the Commission has taken the rare step of using its powers to table its first special report to Parliament.
‘This report serves as an important example for other government organisations to learn from,” Ms Spencer said.
‘The report recommends that all organisations subject to the Act should review their system configurations to prevent and monitor unauthorised deletion of records.
‘Further, it also recommends organisations improve and regularly update staff awareness of record keeping obligations, including through employee training.
‘The Commission will continue to encourage self-reporting of non-compliance with the Act by government organisations in the interests of integrity and continuous improvement across the public sector.’
The report also revealed that the loss of the school records and archives was related to poor practices and system configuration, rather than malicious intent. The Commission acknowledges that this matter was self-reported to the State Records Office in 2024 by the Department of Education and that the Department has undertaken its own investigation into the matter and taken corrective actions to prevent similar issues arising in future.
The Commission notes the Department has cooperated with all information requests by the Commission and accepted all recommendations. The Commission thanks the staff involved from the Department of Education and the State Records Office for their concern and actions taken to date in identifying, reporting and addressing the important matters arising from this unauthorised premature destruction of records.
State Records Commission Special Report
Contact for media enquiries of SRC Chair: Nikki Brown, Media Adviser, Office of the Auditor General, 0427 953 993
* As the Auditor General for Western Australia, Caroline Spencer is an ex-officio Commissioner of the State Records Commission under the State Records Act 2000, and assumed the role of Chair on 1 July 2025.
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