Question NW466 to the Minister of Public Service and Administration
25 March 2024 - NW466
Schreiber, Dr LA to ask the Minister of Public Service and Administration
Whether her department has a policy on providing anonymised data from the Personal and Salary System and Multi-Agent System to academics, researchers and/or others in the public domain to enable external analysis, research and advice; if not, why does her department refuse to make the specified data publicly available in so far as it complies with the relevant provisions of the Protection of Personal Information Act, Act 4 of 2013; if so, what is the process for researchers, academics and members of the public to obtain access to the data?
Reply:
The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) has approved a Manual in terms of section 14 of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (Act No.2 of 2000) (PAIA) which, amongst others, deals with and promotes the right to access records held by the DPSA, as a public body and sets out the procedures to be followed by members of the public to access records held by the DPSA.
Furthermore, the DPSA has published, on its website, a Notice in terms of section 15 of PAIA identifying categories of records of the department which are automatically available without a person having to request access in terms of the procedures contained in the Manual.
The Manual and section 15 Notice are available on the DPSA website at the following link: https://www.dpsa.gov.za/paia/
In so far as human resource data and any other information to enable external analysis, research and advice is concerned, such requests are considered and released subject to the provisions of the PAIA and the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (Act No. 4 of 2013) with due regard to the lawful requirements for the further processing of personal information.
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