Records Management

Section 60 of the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 requires a Councils to make and maintain schemes for the care, preservation and management of their records and the Lord Chancellor’s Code of Practice issued under Section 46 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 provides guidance to public authorities in connection with the keeping, management and destruction of their records, including the need to have a Records Management Policy in place.

An effective records management programme allows us to track the life cycle of each record. We know when a record is created, what function it serves, how long it is considered useful and what the parameters are for retaining it.  It also allows us to know under what legal authority records can be destroyed and if so, when.

The benefits of an effective programme are many:

• It saves office space and corresponding filing equipment, non-active storage and long-term preservation expenses;
• Assists officers in making informed policy;
• Assures the fullest possible historical documentation of official legal and administrative and financial actions;
• Protects the privacy and confidentiality of appropriate records;
• Makes record research and future records management more organised and efficient;
• Protects essential records from being lost, damaged, or destroyed by negligence or natural disaster.