Check out today's furore about the destruction of e-mails >3months old!!!
http://www.newsnow.co.uk/newsfeed/?name=Freedom+of+Information
Best Wishes to All List Members for Xmas 2005!
Regards,
Paul
____________________________________________
----- Original Message -----
From: Eldin Rammell
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, December 20, 2004 12:09 PM
Subject: "Purge of e-mails will deny the right to know" - The Times
The Times on Saturday reported the alleged instruction to delete all e-mails
over 3 months old.
There was no mention (understandably for a newspaper!) of the fact that this
might contradict existing retention policies.
For the benefit of those on the list that don't work for public
authorities/Civil Service, can somebody "on the inside" comment on this
story.
For example, what ACTUALLY was requested to be deleted? How does this
request sit alongside current retention schedules?
Thought this might make an interesting pre-Christmas discussion!!
Best regards,
Eldin.
Mobile: 07940 859721
Tel: 01304 381691
Fax: 0870 762 3115
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://www.rammell.com
Link to article:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,175-1407627,00.html
Purge of e-mails will deny the right to know
By Sam Coates and Jill Sherman
MILLIONS of e-mails to civil servants at the heart of government will be
automatically wiped on Monday, 11 days before freedom of information laws
come into force.
The Cabinet Office, which supports the Prime Minister and co-ordinates
policy across government, has ruled that e-mails more than three months old
must be deleted from December 20, The Times has learnt.
Its 2,000 civil servants are being told to print and file e-mails that
should be disclosed under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act.
It will be up to the individual which e-mails are printed, with no
monitoring from heads of department. Many officials, who receive about 100
e-mails a day, will have at least 3,000 items in their mailboxes. These
include officials in the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, the Delivery Unit,
and the offices of Alan Milburn and Sir Andrew Turnbull, the Cabinet
Secretary.
Although the deleted e-mails will be stored on back-up systems, these have
been declared off limits to freedom of information requests because of the
cost of accessing them.
Last night, Phil Boyd, the assistant information commmissioner, who will
enforce FoI requests, said that the decision could be a big risk and that
important files could be lost.
Constitutional experts called the introduction of an "opt-in" system, where
civil servants are proactive in preserving information, a blatant
contradiction of the Act's "presumption of disclosure".
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