Amount of records destroyed in accordance with Record Management Policy from 2019 - date: FOI release

Information requested

1. How many records the Scottish Government have destroyed in accordance with Record Management Policy in 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23 and so far in 2023-24. Please detail whether these records included emails, WhatsApps, minutes of Scottish Government meetings etc and any other information that is recorded about these messages that were destroyed.
2. When these records were destroyed by the Scottish Government. Please list the exact date when records were destroyed during the aforementioned financial years or were sent for destruction if the job was not conducted by the Scottish Government itself. Please state how frequently records are usually destroyed as well as the dates of these destructions.
3. Whether the Scottish Government pays any companies for the disposal of its records. If so how much it pays this company/companies and the service they provide. For example, is it record disposal through shredding copies of physical documents, wiping hard-drives of data etc. Please provide this information for the financial years of 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23 and so far in 2023-24.
4. The records stored on the Scottish Government’s central corporate record which a Scottish Minister or Scottish Government special adviser specifically requested to be deleted. Please provide this information since 1 November 2022 and state what the record was that was requested to be deleted, whether it was deleted and the date on which the request was made and the date on which the request was made and the day of deletion.

Response

1. We are only able to provide detail on the number of files (i.e. the container holding documents on a particular subject) which have been destroyed. 1,096 files were destroyed in line with their agreed record retention schedule in 2019, no files have been destroyed from 2020 onwards. The Scottish Government does not as a matter of course record the type of medium used for every communication and this is not a requirement of our Records Management Plan. Please note: Scottish Government had a blanket moratorium on the destruction of electronic and paper records in anticipation of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry vesting from 2014 until it was relaxed in July 2017 at which point, with the Inquiry’s agreement, we were able to recommence the destruction of files which were of no relevance to their work in line with agreed record retention schedules. Scottish Government then re-introduced a blanket moratorium on the destruction of records from 2020 in light of the Covid pandemic and the expected public interest in records relating to our response.

2. These records were destroyed between January-February 2019. I have attached a report which details the exact date records were destroyed. Records are usually destroyed in line with their records retention schedules though the previously mentioned moratoriums on destruction have impacted our ability to adhere to these arrangements.

3. Scottish Government does not need to pay any company for the disposal of its records, this is a facility of our electronic Record and Document Management (eRDM) system.

4. Scottish Ministers and Special Advisers do not have direct access to our electronic Record and Document Management (eRDM) system and have never requested the deletion of any records.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202300384324 - Information Released - Record Destruction

File type

Excel document

File size

54.6 kB