Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by John Denham (Labour) on Tuesday, 27 March 2012, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 16 April 2012. It was answered by Lord Grayling (Conservative) on Wednesday, 18 April 2012 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

E-mail

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his policy is on the period for which emails sent and received by (a) Ministers, (b) officials, and (c) special advisers in his Department are retained; and whether such emails are recoverable from the IT systems in his Department after that period.
Answer

The Department currently has a "print to paper" policy for the retention of significant documents covered under the Public Records Act 1958 which requires such documents, when created electronically, to be printed and stored on registered paper files. The policy covers e-mails sent and received by Ministers, officials and special advisers.Individuals are responsible for assessing the significance of a document and its need for retention. Under the policy, the following categories are considered to be significant:"Substantive contributions to the development of policy or legislation including factual evidence and interpretative material relating to accepted and rejected options;""Evidence of how far departmental objectives have been met;""Guidance and procedural documents that are published on the Department's Intranet or DWP/Direct.Gov Internet sites with any updates and amendments;""Published leaflets and forms;""Briefing and background material in relation to: parliamentary submissions, opinions and advice issued to Ministers or officials in the Department including speeches, parliamentary questions, treat official or other correspondence;""Records of decisions/measures taken to comply with legal obligations for example Freedom of Information Act, Environment Information Regulations, Data Protection Act, Health and Safety at Work Act;""Significant programme and project records;""Contracts: tenders, variations and payments;""Agendas, minutes and papers—e.g. Executive Team, Departmental Board, ET sub-committees, public inquiries."Departmental guidance mandates that documentation must be printed to paper if it is required beyond five years. Registered files are normally reviewed, five and 25 years after being closed to judge whether the papers should be retained.All e-mails sent to and from the Department are archive stored in electronic form for 18 months. During this period, an individual e-mail can be recovered on request. After this 18 month period archived e-mails are un-retrievable.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
102947; 543 c396-8W
Session
2010-12
Subjects
Department for Work and Pensions Email
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk