< The Management of Records

Part 1 of the Code

1    British Standards (BSI)

Relevant Standards issued by the British Standards Institution include:

2    Standards and guidance produced by The National Archives for the management of public sector records

The Chief Executive of The National Archives, as head of profession for the knowledge and information function across Government, sets standards for the management of records in all formats, covering their entire life cycle. The standards are supported by guidance and toolkits. Advice for government departments can also be applied by other parts of the public sector. They are available on The National Archives website – see

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/services/default.htm?source=services

In addition, a standard on metadata for records management is available through Govtalk – see

http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/documents/Records_management_metadata_standard_2002.pdf

3    Sector-specific guidance

Guidance is available for specific sectors as follows:

Central government

In addition to standards and guidance issued by The National Archives referred to above, protected records²² are subject to data handling guidance issued by the Cabinet Office – see

http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/mediacabinetoffice/csia/assets/dhr/cross_gov080625.pdf

Local government

The Records Management Society has issued guidelines on disposal and information audits for local government – see

http://www.rms-gb.org.uk/resources.

The Local Government Association and Welsh Local Government Association have issued data handling guidance for protected records – see

http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/aio/9048091

Further and higher education

JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) Infonet has produced an information management Infokit – see

http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/

Schools

The Records Management Society has issued a records management toolkit for schools – see

http://www.rms-gb.org.uk/resources/848

The police

The Home Secretary has issued a code of practice on the management of police information – see

http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/news-and-publications/publication/operational-policing/CodeofPracticeFinal12073.pdf?view=Standard&pubID=224859

It is supported by guidance produced by the National Centre of Policing Excellence on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers – see

http://www.npia.police.uk/en/8492.htm

http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/policing21.htm

The National Health Service

The Department of Health has issued a code of practice for the NHS – see

http://www.dh.gov.uk/enPublicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4131747

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Part 2 of the Code

4    Transfer of records to the National Archives or a place of deposit

The National Archives has published guidance on determining whether records should be transferred to The National Archives or a place of deposit for public records – see the Acquisition and Disposition Strategy and supporting guidance at

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/acquisition_strategy.pdf

and

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/recordsmanagement/disposition/faq.htm

For guidance on the preparation of records for transfer to the National Archives, including cataloguing, see

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/recordsmanagement/advice/standards.htm

and

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/recordsmanagement/advice/cataloguing.htm

For guidance on the transfer of records to places of deposit see

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/foi_guide.pdf

5    Transfer of records to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland has published guidance on transferring records – see

http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/professional_information/records_and_information_management.htm

6    Determining whether exemptions apply

Guidance on FOI exemptions has been issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office, the regulator of both the Act and the EIR – see

http://www.ico.gov.uk/tools_and_resources/document_library/freedom_of_information.aspx

Guidance has also been issued by the Ministry of Justice – see

http://www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/foi-exemptions-guidance.htm

Guidance on EIR exceptions has been issued by the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – see

http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/opengov/eir/guidance/full-guidance/pdf/guidance-7.pdf

Guidance has also been issued by The National Archives:
Access to Public Records – see

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/access_manual.pdf

Redaction: guidelines for the editing of exempt information from paper and electronic documents prior to release – see

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/redaction_toolkit.pdf

< The Management of Records