Records are retained and disposed of in accordance with a Retention Schedule.
In line with the Keeper of the Records of Scotland’s (The Keeper’s) obligations under the Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011 (the Act), the following guidance is issued regarding an authority’s retention or disposal schedule.
It is required by the Act that an authority’s records management plan (RMP) submitted for agreement with the Keeper, confirms that the authority has developed, or is in the process of developing, records retention and disposal schedules.
Current best practice guidance, such as that contained in the Section 61 Code of Practice on Records Management, issued by Scottish Ministers under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, advises that:
Authorities should define how long they need to keep particular records, should dispose of them when they are no longer needed and should be able to explain why records are no longer held. For the purpose of this Code, disposal means the decision as to whether the record should be destroyed or transferred to an archives service for permanent preservation, and the putting into effect of that decision.
A retention or disposal schedule is for the operational level of business records (as opposed to the policy at a strategic level), and is essential for the smooth running of an efficient records management system. It governs the retention and disposal of all records generated during the course of the activities of the organisation, ensures continuity, protects the organisation’s legal rights, and preserves information for the archives.
Evidence
The Keeper will expect to see that a retention decision (even if that decision is ‘review’) has been applied to all the authority’s public records in whatever format and management system that record is kept (see Element 4).
The authority should provide the Keeper with a retention schedule showing that it understands how long certain types of records should be kept. This schedule may appear in the form of a single document that applies to the entire operation, or as several documents, perhaps divided by the different functions and activities the authority undertakes. If the authority is submitting a comprehensive business classification scheme or information asset register, as described under Element 4, this may include retention instructions for each record series. In such a case there would be no need for the authority to submit a separate retention schedule.
The Keeper understands that for some authorities providing a comprehensive retention schedule may present a challenge in the short term. However, the Keeper would require indication that the authority is working towards completing such a schedule for all corporate records held throughout its entire operation. Evidence of an authority’s improvement project for retention scheduling might be an explanatory statement, or an action plan, approved by the senior accountable officer.
