Decision details

The report presented and sought approval of the proposed revisions to the Council’s Records Management Policy and Retention Schedule following their schedules’ triennial review, in order to ensure the Council’s continued compliance with the statutory Code of Practice on the management of records which sat within the Council’s Information Governance Policy Framework.

Framework.

The Mayor considered a report regarding the Records Management Policy.

The report presented and sought approval of the proposed revisions to the Council’s Records Management Policy and Retention Schedule following their schedules’ triennial review, in order to ensure the Council’s continued compliance with the statutory Code of Practice on the management of records which sat within the Council’s Information Governance Policy Framework.

The report provided the rules and guidance necessary to appropriately safeguard the Council’s corporate information to ensure it was secure, complete, managed effectively and appropriately accessible.

The decision required Single Member Executive approval as it was a ‘minor variation to an existing policy or procedure’, as per Section 6.38.2(a) of the constitution.

The increasing reliance on electronic records, with more information being created and received digitally, had added a new dimension to the challenges that Middlesborough Council faced.  The growth of digital technology had provided different ways for the Council to communicate and share information, which made information and records management even more complex.

The Council was in the process of implementing a new corporate storage platform which would ensure structure, consistency and security for its records.  Its policy and retention schedules would determine how the Council’s information was structured, and how long information was held for in line with retention legislation.

The policy would underpin and ensure that:

• where and when required, authoritative information about past activities could be found and used for current business (corporate memory);
• the Council could demonstrate compliance with its legal duties and respond to public information requests more efficiently;
• the Council would become more transparent by proactively and routinely publishing data of public interest; and
• the Council achieved a more effective use of resources, through the ongoing digitisation of records and the correct implementation of the Corporate Records Retention Schedule.

Furthermore, effective records management would also help the Council mitigate the following risks:

• loss of records vital to effective operations;
• taking poor decisions based on inadequate or incomplete records;
• failure to handle personal or confidential information with the required level of security;
• criticisms or sanctions from the Information Commissioner for non-compliance; and
• financial losses due to the lack of reliable evidence or incurring unnecessary costs for date storage.

The policy and schedule were reviewed every three years unless there were changes to legislation in the intervening period that would require an earlier review. 

OPTIONS

The Council could choose not to adopt corporate policies on records management, however statutory duties would remain in place and in the absence of a standard approach there would be an increased risk of making decisions that failed to meet those legal duties.  Given these duties were in place, this option was not recommended.

ORDERED that the Records Management Policy and Corporate Retention Schedule Refresh be approved.

REASONS

Consideration of policy was required to ensure compliance with the Council’s statutory responsibilities, which would ensure the right information would be available to the right users, at any time, accessible and used ethically to support achievement of the Council Plan Ambitions.

Managing Records effectively would support delivery of the Council’s emerging Digital Strategy.