RECORDS MANAGEMENT
5.1 Your Right to Know makes it clear that the success
of FOI will depend on the quality of the records produced and
the manner in which they are maintained. Departments are to come
under a new obligation to ensure that they discharge their responsibilities
in these matters.
5.2 The Public Record Office has an important role to play
here. In February 1997 a joint study with the Cabinet Office Efficiency
Unit concluded that the Office should take a clearer leadership
role in the managing of government's current records. In the past,
the Office has - for obvious reasons - tended to focus on the
selection and transfer of historic records. The Office has accepted
this recommendation enthusiastically not least because the automation
of government's operations represents a new challenge for record
keepers. National archives across the world are recognising that
they need to be involved when office systems are designed and
installed if they are to produce reliable records in the long
term. To this end, the Office is producing guidance to government
on the creation and management of their records. This work will
continue and it will be refocused to ensure that a clear direction
is given on the requirements of the FOI system.
January 1998
ANNEX A
EXTRACTS FROM OPEN GOVERNMENT (Cm 2290, 1993)
Paragraphs 9.23-9.27 of the White Paper set out the basis
on which records are retained within departments. The criteria
for extended closure are given in Annex C. Copies of these pages
are included hereafter.
RETENTION
9.23 As stated in paragraph 9.8 (ii) above the Public Records
Act makes provision for records to be retained by departments.
There are two main categories of records which are retained rather
than closed. These are, first, records which are retained for
administrative reasons, usually because they are awaiting review,
or are in constant use. There are secondly, records whose sensitivity
is such that no date can be put on their potential release, most
of which fall into one of the categories for which the Lord Chancellor
has given "blanket" approval to retain.
These categories are:
- Security and intelligence material (renewed in February
1992);
- Civil and Home Defence material (now under review);
- Atomic Energy - pre-1956 defence-related material
(now under review);
- Atomic Energy - post 1956 defence-related material
(to be reviewed in 2006);
- Personal records of civil servants - retained for
administrative purposes.
9.24 Records retained by departments for other than administrative
reasons are subject to regular review i.e. at least every ten
years and, in the same way as closed records, subject to the test
of "actual damage" caused by release. Thus when the
sensitivity has passed the record will be released.
EXPLANATION OF
THE REASONS
FOR CLOSURE/RETENTION
9.25 Hitherto when records have had to be closed for longer
than 30 years or retained by departments no reason has been given
other than to say that the provisions of the Public Records
Act 1958 permit such closure or retention in accordance with
agreed criteria. This is because governments have taken the view
that to say more could endanger the very information that closure
or retention seeks to protect. It has been the practice of successive
Administrations not to disclose the contents of records withheld
from public release.
9.26 The contents of withheld records must continue to be
protected but, in future, departments will, in response to queries
about closed or retained records, say which of the following reasons
applies and give such other information as is appropriate if this
can be done without putting at risk the information which has
led to the material being withheld. The reasons, as shown above,
for which records are closed or retained for longer than 30 years
are:
- administrative (e.g. to allow the reviewing process
to be completed);
- national security;
- international relations/defence/economic;
- material given in confidence;
- personal sensitivity (would substantially distress
or endanger persons affected by disclosure of their descendants).
9.27 The Security and intelligence "blanket" referred
to above permits the records of the security and intelligence
agencies themselves to be withheld with the Lord Chancellor's
approval. This is because the agencies depend for their effectiveness
on maintaining the confidentiality both of their methods of operations
which, despite the passage of time, are still extant, and, most
of all, of the identities of people who put themselves at risk
in the service of the State. However, papers originating in the
agencies which have been held in other departments over the years
(i.e., "intelligence-related" documents) and often reflect
the product of the agencies' operations, are reviewed as part
of the normal procedures and released if they are no longer sensitive.
ANNEX C
GUIDELINES ON EXTENDED CLOSURE
Guiding Principle: All records not retained in departments
should be released after 30 years unless:
(a) it is possible to establish the actual damage that
would be caused by release, and
(b) the damage falls within the three criteria set out
below.
