Written question asked by Lisa Nandy (Labour) on Monday, 9 January 2012, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 11 January 2012. It was answered by David Lidington (Conservative) on Tuesday, 17 January 2012 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Departmental Meetings

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his Department's policy is on record keeping for official meetings.

Answer: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) record-keeping is governed by relevant legislation as well as standards set by the National Archives. FCO staff are required to register all information of corporate value to the FCO in the FCO's electronic document registry system. This includes documents needed for the operational purposes of the FCO which have a medium or long-term value or interest and documents likely to be needed for the public record. Information of local or short-term value is kept in the shared drive of the FCO's computer system. Records of official meetings will be recorded in the appropriate location, as described above, according to their content. Corporate value records are stored until they are reviewed for destruction or transfer to the National Archive.

Secondary information