RDA expiry date: N/A; current until revoked
This retention and disposal authority covers records concerning allegations and incidents of child sexual abuse. It includes reporting, inquiring and investigation of allegations, as well as the provision of support and redress to individuals.
It also includes the development, implementation and review of organisational policy and guidelines in relation to the prevention, identification, and response to child sexual abuse incidents and allegations. This includes records of this nature created through an agency’s reporting, oversight or regulatory relationships with other agencies.
Keywords: abuse, allegations, child, children, incidents, sexual abuse.
Notes on applying PROS 19/08
Exemptions
This RDA applies all public offices, however there are some exemptions when another RDA will take precedence over this RDA.
Please note: Additional RDAs may be added to the below exemption list over time.
| Types of records | RDA to use |
| Records concerning allegations and incidents of child sexual abuse involving children who are or were under the care or custody of the State. | Use PROS 08/12 Child Protection and Family Services Functions RDA and PROS 08/16 Youth Services and Youth Justice Functions RDA. |
| Patient information records of hospitals and health services who have provided medical care of treatment to children who are victims of child sexual abuse. | Use PROS 11/06 Patient Information Records RDA. Please note that PROS 11/06 was varied (Variation 1, issued 14/11/2019) to include a new class to extend the retention of reported/suspected sexual abuse victims records to 99 years. |
| Investigation records of Victoria Police for criminal investigations undertaken into allegations and incidents of child sexual abuse. | Use PROS 10/14 Victoria Police RDA. |
| Records of the Office of Public Prosecutions and courts / tribunals in relation to the prosecution and trial of persons for child sexual abuse. | Use the RDAs for the respective courts / tribunals and the Office of Public Prosecutions. |
Scope
PROS 19/08 does not include “contextual records” that might be used as evidence (e.g. staff rosters, attendance records) unless those records are required as part of an investigation or report at which time the retention requirements of this new RDA will apply.
This means that agencies may continue to use their existing RDA and PROS 07/01 RDA for Common Administrative Functions RDA to sentence contextual if records of that type are not required, whilst assessing the likelihood that the contextual records may be required for a future investigation or legal proceeding and the risk should the records not be available.
See Creating, Managing and Retaining Records for Current and Future Child Sexual Abuse Allegations for further advice on what is meant by contextual records that may be required.
Variations and amendments to existing RDAs
PROV has reviewed all current and expired RDAs that may have been used by agencies to sentence records for shorter periods than specified in PROS 19/08. See:
List of completed variations supporting PROS 19/08
Most RDAs have been superseded by PROS 19/08, except where the retention periods in the function specific RDAs are greater or there was a need for additional record classes.
The above list will be updated as more RDAs are varied.
Expired RDAs
The RDAs listed in the table below have expired. They may no longer be used to authorise destruction of records concerning:
- allegations or incidents of child sexual abuse
- reporting, inquiring and investigation of allegations
- provision of support and redress to individuals.
Agencies must re-sentence records and apply either PROS 19/08 or the relevant RDA for their agency.
| PROS number | Short title |
| PROS 82/08 | Department of Community Welfare Services |
| PROS 83/07 | Public Service Board |
| PROS 83/10 | Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology |
| PROS 88/02 | School Records |
| PROS 88/10 | Victoria Police Communications District D-24 |
| PROS 88/13 | Police Briefs of Evidence and Related Records |
| PROS 88/16 | Swinburne Institute of Technology - Grievances Records |
| PROS 91/05 | Juvenile Corrective Services |
| PROS 92/06 | Department of Health and Community Services - Child at Risk Register |
| PROS 93/06 | Department of Health and Community Services – Intellectual Disability Services Client and Administrative Records |
| PROS 94/02 | Police Station - General Records |
| PROS 96/13 | Common Administrative Records |
| PROS 98/01 | Local Government - General Records |
| PROS 98/02 | Department of Education & Early Childhood Development |
| PROS 98/08 | Ambulance Services Victoria |
| PROS 99/04 | Public Health Services Patient Records |
| PROS 02/01 | Higher and Further Education Institutions |
| PROS 02/02 | Victoria Police Ethical Standards Department |
| PROS 04/05 | Victoria Police Communication |
| PROS 05/02 | Victoria Police |
Stakeholder consultation
As part of the consultation process, a draft of PROS 19/08 and appraisal report were published on the PROV website for a consultation period of four weeks. PROV also consulted directly with a number of stakeholders and conferred with the Council of Australasian Archives and Records Authorities members to ensure Victorian requirements were consistent with retention requirements across Australia.
All feedback received was closely reviewed and considered, PROV thanks everyone who took the time to provide input.
Overall there was consensus on the retention periods proposed in the RDA and there was general support for the class descriptions and language used within the RDA. The majority of the feedback we received was in relation to the scope of the RDA, relationship to other RDAs and contextual records.
The table below summarises the feedback received and the actions we took in response.
| Comment / feedback received | PROV response |
| Be more explicit about how long contextual records are to be retained. | The introductory section of PROS 19/08 has been expanded upon to explain that contextual records are not covered by this RDA unless those records are required as part of an investigation or report at which time the retention requirements of PROS 19/08 will apply. This means that public offices may continue to use their existing RDAs and PROS 07/01 RDA for Common Administrative Functions to sentence “contextual” records, whilst assessing the likelihood that the contextual records may be required for a future investigation or legal proceeding and the risk should the records not be available. PROV has published advice on what is meant by contextual records that may be required. See Creating, Managing and Retaining Records for Current and Future Child Sexual Abuse Allegations. |
| Clarify the relationship between this new RDA and existing RDAs, in particular those RDAs that authorised disposal of records of children in care of the State. | The introductory section of PROS 19/08 has been revised to explain the relationship of this RDA to other existing RDAs. It includes a list of the RDAs that continue to apply. For example, PROS 08/12 Child Protection and Family Services Function RDA and PROS 08/16 Youth Services and Youth Justice Functions RDA will continue to apply to children in care of the State. |
| Clarify the relationship between this new RDA and PROS 11/06 Patient Information Records RDA. | The records of a health service that provides medical services to a victim will continue to be covered by PROS 11/06. Please note PROS 11/06 will be varied to include a new class to extend the retention of reported/suspected sexual abuse victims records to 99 years. |
| Does this RDA only apply to incidents or allegations involving employees of an organisation; or is it broader than this. | This RDA applies if there has been incident or an allegation made against your agency. It may involve an employee, but it also could involve contractors, volunteers etc. The key is if there has been an incident or allegation made against your agency, then PROS 19/08 is to be applied. |
| Could the disposal trigger for class 1.1 not be tied to a specific action so that it could be applied to multiple scenarios. | We changed the trigger in response to feedback received to ‘after action completed’. |