What is a Record?

A Record Is… Information captured and used for conducting

business in any media Most of our recent records are the product of

electronic working but the department still has over 800,000 registered files in the records store dating back to 1950’s. Some will be archived forever in TNA (The National Archive) some will be kept by the department for future business use but most will be destroyed

Who’s Responsible? Everyone in the department is responsible for

record keeping In turn the Department is responsible for

ensuring you have the skills and tools to manage your records

The Department for Education and all other government departments have a legal obligation to keep good records; as set out in the Public Records Acts of 1958 and 1967

Understanding Records… Records contain information and data from

which decisions are made, plans developed and control exercised. They are used for recording, organising, planning, controlling and communicating information

Understanding what a record is or more importantly whether your information may be a record; is just the start of the records management process

What is a Record?Can mean different things to different business areas

For example: Information about a financial transaction is a record and

remains so until the retention has elapsed. For Finance records this is 7 years, and then the record can be destroyed

Information collected for a change in Education Policy is a record and can remain so for 20 years until it is reviewed by the departments records team, who will select information that may be worthy of preserving forever. A good example of this is changes to the National Curriculum as this will always be of interest to the public and researches’ past, present and future

The National Archives The National Archives is interested in certain areas of our business

but not all

The department has worked with the National Archives to identify areas of long term interest and these are detailed in the following policies:

Operational Selection Policy OSP19 School Age Education (3-16) Operational Selection Policy OSP31 Post 16 Education

The above policies can be found on the Records Management website, read them and you may be surprised to find that your business area is included

What happens to other records?Records not selected for permanent preservation are required for reasons other than Historical or Public Interest. Most records are kept to enable the department to function effectively, enabling it to:

pursue its policies meet its objectives meet requirements of legislation and propriety show it has used its resources well answer questions from Parliament deal with court cases, reviews, audits, inquiries and other investigations All of the above are the “memory” of the department and contain

information and data from which decisions are made, plans developed and control exercised

The records deemed worthy and selected for permanent preservation are only 2-3% of the information the department creates

The “Memory Records” make up the other 97%, most of which end up in the bin once their lifespan or retention has expired

What do I need to do?

Understand Retention All business areas should know if their

information is likely to be selected for permanent preservation and therefore be declaring records appropriately