Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We did indicate that there are a number of basic systems in place to assist with the management of government records. We have put in place an administrative records management system. We have government storage facilities located in most major centres and we have been working on development of an electronic file management system to allow us to track records essentially from the time they are created to the time they are disposed of. Many of those pieces have been developed.
At this point, we are in the process of encouraging departments to make use of them. We are providing training to departments to assist them in using these tools. We are finding that there is an increase intake by departments on the use of these tools to manage their records. I believe we are making some progress.
In terms of authority, no, we do not have the authority. We do not have the responsibility to require departments to do this. They have the responsibility to manage their own records. At this stage of the game, we are providing the tools for them to do that.
The piece that we discussed when we were in standing committee was the Knowledge Management Strategy that is under development. Records management is included within the scope of that work. We are expecting to get a more coordinated and a more directed approach to records management as a result of the recommendations of that strategy development exercise. We should have more information on that within the next few weeks.