House of Lords - House of Lords Staff Handbook

House of Lords Staff Handbook Seventeenth Edition

APPENDIX N:PARLIAMENTARY RECORDS MANAGEMENT POLICY

(Paragraphs 12.37-12.43)

This Policy describes how each House of Parliament will manage its records and supersedes the Parliamentary Records Management Guidelines. The Guidelines, which were endorsed by our predecessors in May 2000, launched a best practice and corporate approach to records management in Parliament modelled on strategies used throughout the public sector. The Policy additionally reflects the guidance set out in Part I of The Code of Practice on the Management of Records issued under section 46 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The Policy applies to all records including current files and documents created, received and stored by the administrations of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, whether on paper or in electronic form.

It is important that the records we hold or create are maintained in well-structured filing systems that enable ready retrieval of their contents for as long as they are in operational use and that authorised procedures are observed for their subsequent destruction or archiving. Since the introduction of the records management programme we have been pleased to note that there is enhanced awareness amongst staff of the need for effective record keeping and good use of the records management tools provided to improve working practices.

This policy provides a framework for records management that will help to ensure that recent improvements are sustained, that achievements are built upon and that each House continues to derive business benefits in terms of better access to information and enhanced departmental effectiveness. Effective records management is also necessary to support our obligations under Freedom of Information and Data Protection legislation.

We are pleased to give our support to the wider circulation of this Policy.

P.D.G. Hayter

CLERK OF THE PARLIAMENTS

April 2006

R.B. Sands

CLERK OF THE HOUSE

Parliamentary Records Management Policy

1 Policy Statement

The administrations of both Houses of Parliament recognise records management as a specific corporate programme and will ensure the necessary levels of organisational support to enable its effectiveness. The programme will bring together responsibilities for records as corporate assets in all formats, including electronic records, throughout their life cycle, from creation or receipt through to disposal (destruction or archiving).

Both Houses will adhere to the principles laid out in the Code of Practice on Records Management (Part 1) in order to support their compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Both Houses will also recognise appropriate standards and best practice, including the international standard ISO 15489-1:2001 'Information and documentation - Records management' and the BSI equivalent.

This Policy supersedes the Policy Guidelines (2000).

2 Purpose

The aims of the Records Management Policy are to:

set out practices which both Houses must follow for the creation, management and disposal of their records irrespective of the media on which they are held; and

to describe the arrangements which shall be followed in reviewing records and either destroying them or transferring them to the Parliamentary Archives.

Effective records management is one element within corporate information management. It should be co-ordinated with and contribute to the development of other information strategies both Parliament-wide and within each House.

3 Definitions

Appraisal: the process of determining whether materials have sufficient evidential, informational and historical value to be selected for permanent preservation amongst the Parliamentary Archives; value is based on a number of factors, including the records' provenance and content, their authenticity and reliability, their order and completeness, their condition and costs to preserve them, and their intrinsic value (where appropriate). Appraisal takes place within an institutional collecting policy.

Archive: an accumulation of records which has been selected for permanent preservation amongst the Parliamentary Archives.

Archiving: the processes associated with transferring records to the Parliamentary Archives.

Authorised Records Disposal Practice: A set of instructions allocated to a class or file to determine the length of time for which its records should be retained by each House for business purposes, and their eventual disposal by destruction or archiving on completion of this period of time.

Classes: a predetermined ordering of a series of documents or files (i.e. filing arrangement).

Classification: systematic identification and arrangement of business activities and/or records into categories according to logically structured conventions, methods and procedural rules represented in a classification system.

Classification Scheme for Parliamentary Records: an approved hierarchical list of terms to be used in categorising paper and electronic files of current records. It covers terminology common to the business functions and activities of both Houses, to provide a comprehensive controlled vocabulary.

Current record: live active document still in day-to-day use.

Disposal: the processes associated with implementing records retention (i.e. destruction or archiving), which are documented in the Authorised Records Disposal Practice.

Metadata: data describing context, content and structure of records and their management through time.

Record: information, irrespective of format or the media on which it is held, created, received and maintained as evidence and information by both Houses, in the transaction of business or in pursuance of legal obligations.

Record, authentic: one that can be proven to be what it purports to be, to have been created or sent by the person purported to have created or sent it, and at the time purported.

Record, reliable: one whose contents can be trusted as a full and accurate representation of the transactions, activities or facts to which they attest and can be depended upon in the course of subsequent transactions or activities.

Record, useable: one that can be located, retrieved, presented and interpreted. It should be capable of subsequent presentation as directly connected to the business activity or transaction that produced it.

Records management: field of information management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records, including processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of and information about business activities and transactions in the form of records.

Records system: information system (either paper-based or electronic) that captures, manages and provides access to records.

4 Organisational Scope

This policy applies to all staff (permanent and temporary), contractors and consultants of both Houses of Parliament. Specific responsibilities are as follows:

Heads of departments and offices are responsible for the application of the records management policy in their area of responsibility;

All staff are responsible and accountable for keeping accurate and complete records of their decisions and actions to ensure public accountability expectations are met;

The Parliamentary Archives is responsible for providing a records management service and an archive service for both Houses of Parliament;

The Parliamentary Records Management Team of the Parliamentary Archives is responsible for all aspects of records management, including developing records management policy, involvement in the designing, implementing and maintaining of records systems and their operations, and for training users in records management and records systems operations;

Record officers nominated by their department/office are responsible for liaising with the Parliamentary Records Management Team to ensure that parliamentary records management policy and procedures are being complied with in their area;

ICT systems administrators are responsible for involving the Parliamentary Records Management Team in the development of all systems which hold records; and

Contractors, consultants and temporary staff are responsible for adhering to parliamentary records management practice and ensuring that all parliamentary records remain the property of, and in the custody of, the relevant House.

5 Policy Content

To support the continuing conduct of business, comply with good practice in the administration of both Houses, and provide necessary accountability, both Houses will maintain authentic, reliable and useable records, and protect the integrity of those records for as long as they are retained. To do this, each House will institute and implement a Parliament-wide records management programme, which includes the classification of files, disposal arrangements, the management of electronic records and monitoring of the programme to ensure compliance with policy and procedures.

All records created and/or received in the course of business shall be the property of the relevant House and shall be managed in accordance with this policy and relevant standards and best practice irrespective of their formats or of the media on which they are held.

5.1 DECENTRALISED APPROACH

Both Houses' approach to records management will combine centralised policies and guidance sufficient to protect their interests, with decentralised implementation to enable a flexible and practical response to business needs.

The records management programme must identify the classes of records that are created and managed in order to support both Houses in:

performing their business functions;

protecting their business interests; and

meeting their statutory and regulatory obligations

Each department/office (i.e. record holders) should specify the business functions and related activities for which records are created.

5.2 CURRENT RECORDS MANAGEMENT

Each department/office must have in place an adequate system for documenting its activities. This must take into account the operational, legislative and regulatory environment in which both Houses operate, and comply with parliamentary records management policy and practice.

Records of a business activity must be complete and sufficiently accurate to ensure their authenticity and to enable staff and their successors to undertake appropriate actions in the context of their responsibilities in order to:

facilitate an audit of the business by anyone so authorised; and

protect the legal and other rights of both Houses and any person affected by their actions.

Records must be created and maintained in such a way as to ensure the readability of their contents, and their accessibility, at all times throughout their life cycle. In the short term, the policy in both Houses remains that all official records created electronically should be printed and filed until such time as a viable electronic records management system is in place.

Records created by both Houses, both paper and electronic, shall be arranged according to the Classification Scheme for Parliamentary Records and disposed of according to the Authorised Records Disposal Practice to enable the efficient retrieval and authorised disposal of information.

Electronic systems holding records must contain metadata (i.e. descriptive and technical documentation) that ensure the integrity of the records as corporate assets, as well as making sure that accessibility and use are sustained for as long as the records are required (which may include their migration across systems).

The records system, whether paper or electronic, must include a set of rules for classifying, titling, registering and, if appropriate, protective marking of records. These should be clear and should enable the efficient retrieval of information. Records management requirements should be included at the design stage of any system.

The movement and location of records shall be controlled to ensure that a record can be easily retrieved at any time, that any outstanding issues can be dealt with, and that there is an auditable trail of record transactions.

Storage accommodation for paper records in offices and in off-site facilities should be clean, tidy and secure, and should prevent damage to the records. Equipment used must be safe from unauthorised access and meet fire regulations, but also allow maximum accessibility to the records commensurate with their frequency of use. Records held as archives in the Victoria Tower repository are preserved according to BSI standards.

Contingency or business recovery plans should take into account the need to protect records which are vital to the continued functioning of each House.

5.3 DISPOSAL ARRANGEMENTS

Records shall be retained only for as long as they are required to support both Houses in meeting their business requirements and legal obligations. At the end of that time, the records will either be destroyed or retained permanently as archives.

The disposal, either by destruction or archiving, of records no longer required to support current business will be carried out in accordance with the Authorised Records Disposal Practice. The destruction of records will be subject to the approval of an authorising officer, nominated by the Head of department or office, who will be accountable for the destruction of records in their area. Records accessioned by the Parliamentary Archives will be retained as archives on the basis of their evidential, informational and historical value.

The Parliamentary Archives shall have in place systems for managing appraisal and for recording the disposal decisions taken. Disposal decisions must take into account the risks to the business associated with destruction or delay in appraisal, the volume and nature of records due for disposal, the time taken to appraise records.

The Parliamentary Archives shall maintain an acquisitions policy, which states in broad terms which records are likely to be selected for permanent preservation. The policy shall be supported by the Authorised Records Disposal Practice, which should cover all records created (including electronic records), and appraisal criteria.

Records not selected for permanent preservation and which have reached the end of their administrative life must be destroyed in as secure a manner as is necessary for the level of protective markings they bear. A record of the destruction of records, showing their reference, description, date and the authority for their destruction must be maintained by the department/office.

If a record due for destruction is known to be the subject of an audit request, civil or criminal proceedings, or a request for information under the Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act, or other statutory right of access to information, destruction must be delayed until the matter is closed, including ensuring that any complaint and appeal provisions have been exhausted.

5.4 MONITORING

The Parliamentary Records Management Team shall, from time to time, review departments/offices to monitor compliance with this policy and provide guidance and advice where appropriate. In cases of a serious violation of the policy or serious risk to the business, the Clerk of the Records shall report the matter to the Clerk of the Parliaments or the Clerk of the House as appropriate.

6 Procedures and Guidelines

The adoption of Parliament-wide standards and procedures is essential to ensure that effective records management is provided consistently across both Houses in a systematic and sustainable manner.

This policy shall be supported by such procedures and guidelines issued by the Parliamentary Records Management Team.