Hi
The statutory period for the retention of agenda/minutes of meetings is
6 years, with 4 years for background papers. Councillors make decisions
based on the evidence presented to them which rarely includes minutes of
team meetings.
In my past experience, I have often been asked to look for minutes
relating to decision made 10-20 years ago. Importance is subjective.
Permanent is viable, however, I would hold all content (including
background papers) for 30 years and then offer to archivist. If
archivist has a policy to not accept the content, then I would develop a
locally held, permanent archive. Remember, you should not only retain
the agenda/minutes, you are well advised to also hold the index
pertaining to the same (if one exists, and it should).
I would store staff/team meetings for no more than 6 full years as
rarely, if at all, will they be referred to again.
Paul Dodgson
-----Original Message-----
From: The UK Records Management mailing list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Claire Park
Sent: 19 July 2006 11:42
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Retention for minutes and agenda
Hello all
I was asked a perfectly reasonable question by a colleague yesterday:
Do
we have different retention periods for meeting papers - according to
the
importance of the meeting?"
This raised a couple of issues. We currently have what appears to be
the
blanket retention period "permanent" but this applies to Full Council
and
Committee/Sub-Committee meetings only. Meetings of "lesser" importance
e.g. team and unit meetings, have no separate provision.
I would argue that there is case for keeping both permanently as they
both
provide proof of actions and decision making at Council and Team level.
I
don't think it is helpful to make a distinction between different type
of
meetings and then apply individual retention periods.
Clearly we have a lot of meetings but I would recommend keeping the
final
copy of minutes/agenda and associated reports/papers permanently.
I would very much appreciate any views on this issue. Also if folks do
anything different would be interested to hear about it.
Please feel free to email off-list if preferred.
Thanks a lot
Claire P
Senior Information and Records Officer
[log in to unmask]
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Leicestershire County Council - rated a 'four-star' council by the Audit Commission
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