Scottish Government records management plan

Element 7: Archiving and transfer arrangements

Records that have enduring value are permanently retained and made accessible in accordance with the Keeper's 'Supplementary Guidance on Proper Arrangements for Archiving Public Documents'.

Section 1(2)(b)(iii) of the Act specifically requires a RMP to make provision about the archiving and destruction, or other disposal, of an authority's public records.

An authority's RMP must detail its archiving and transfer arrangements and ensure that records of enduring value are deposited in an appropriate archive repository. The RMP will detail how custody of the records will transfer from the operational side of the authority to either an in-house archive, if that facility exists, or another suitable repository, which must be named. The service responsible for the archive should be cited.

Some records continue to have value beyond their active business use and may be selected for permanent preservation. The authority's RMP must show that it has a mechanism in place for dealing with records identified as being suitable for permanent preservation. This mechanism will be informed by the authority's retention schedule which should identify records of enduring corporate and legal value. An authority should also consider how records of historical, cultural and research value will be identified if this has not already been done in the retention schedule. The format/media in which they are to be permanently maintained should be noted as this will determine the appropriate management regime.

Best Practice might include:

• The authority has access to professional archival advice in identifying records of enduring value.
• Archive selection is in accordance with the retention schedule and is format neutral.
• Selection is systematic.
• The authority is satisfied that the process of transfer ensures the security of the records, that the records are not corrupted in transit (especially in the case of digital records), and the correct records are transferred and received.
• The authority can confirm that the archives repository has appropriate staff, security and storage to meet the Keeper's requirement.
• The authority is satisfied that the arrangements for public access to their records is in accordance with access to information legislation and regulation.
• The authority is satisfied that access to archive records that include personal data (data relating to living individuals) is in accordance with data protection law.

Read further explanation and guidance about element 7.

Scottish Government Statement

Scottish Government records which are identified as being of historical interest are transferred to the National Records of Scotland for permanent preservation.

There is a formal Service Level Agreement between Scottish Government and the National Records of Scotland which covers the transfer of all records.

Scottish Government use Enterprise Vault to archive emails from all employees mailboxes.

We plan to re-commence our project to review material in shared drives, pst files and public folders and will arrange for the material to be disposed/added to eRDM in line with agreed retention schedules. A copy of the original policy document relating to the SG archival policy for shared drives is attached.

We are progressing the digitising of our legacy paper files in line with the Digital First Agenda.

Evidence

E10: NRS selection policy

E11: SG iTECS-NRS Service Level Agreement

E27: NRS Depositor Guidance for the Transfer of Archival Born Digital Records

E35: Scottish Government Email Archiving

E36: Scottish Government Archival Project - Analysis and Interim Progress Report

E37: Scottish Government Archival Project - Project Mandate/PID

E57: Scottish Government Archival Policy for Shared Drives

E72: Digitisation of Legacy Paper Files

Further Development

We will maintain regular contact with NRS with regards to record transfers.

We will adhere to any updates to the NRS Depositor Guidance for the Transfer of Archival Born Digital Records when transferring electronic records to NRS.

The NRS selection policy and SG iTECS-NRS Service Level Agreement will be reviewed and updated in 2021 in conjunction with NRS.

The Scottish Government Archival project has been on hold for a period of time but will be progressed again in 2021.

We will continue to digitise our legacy paper records in order to meet with our "digital first" policy.