Characteristics of the Public Records Transferred from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

Abstract

This article discusses the characteristics of the public records transferred from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare to the National Archives of Japan based on the situations of the organizations that created the records, and of those that received the records. First, this article focuses on the aspect of records creation. In 1938, the Ministry of Health and Welfare was established based on the Ministry of Home Affairs. After World War II, a part of the business of the Ministry of Health and Welfare was transferred to newly established organizations such as the Ministry of Labour, Social Insurance Agency and Environment Agency. As part of the restructuring of the central government in 2001, the Ministry of Health and Welfare was integrated with the Ministry of Labour into the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Chapter 1 examines their business and organizational changes. Chapter 2 discusses the history of record management rules in each stage (Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), focusing on the retention periods and categories of records. Chapter 3 discusses the situation with regard to the receiving of records. Changes in the national systems and standards for the transfer of records were examined, and the records transferred to the National Archives were analyzed. As a result, the following facts were confirmed: (1) Many public records regarding individual issues such as government approvals and licenses were transferred, while only a few public records regarding decisions made by the ministry were transferred; (2) The number and types of transferred records increased in accordance with the changes in systems and standards for the transfer of records.