The Records Management Policy aims to ensure that Dorset Council proactively manages records throughout their lifecycle, regardless of format.
Records are both a valuable resource and an important asset. As with any asset, such as people or property, records require proper management. They support effective service delivery, provide evidence of our activities and decisions, and maintain the corporate memory.
The benefits of systematically managing our records are:
- protecting our most important information and improving business resilience and efficiency
- making sure information can be found and retrieved quickly and accurately
- complying with legal and regulatory requirements, particularly the Freedom of Information Act, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the UK General Data Protection Regulation
- mitigating information risk; avoiding fines and protecting our reputation
- minimising storage requirements and reducing costs
Effective records management helps to ensure that the correct, accurate and up to date information is easily available to the right person, at the right time, when needed. This policy therefore underpins effective decision making, good governance, transparency and accountability in the management of services.
This policy defines the direction Dorset Council is taking in recognising records management as a core corporate function.
Fully embedding this policy is under development, will be closely informed by service design and will be subject to iterative review over time. Currently, the Records Management service is part of Archives and Records within Customer Services, Libraries, Archives and Records, in the Place Directorate.
The service supports and drives the efficient organisation of the council’s information assets in whatever format. It takes a co-ordinated approach with other information-related services towards good information governance.
This policy sets out a lifecycle approach to records management, defining what is necessary at each stage to produce high-quality records.
It outlines the expectations for all employees in managing information effectively and the responsibilities of different groups that directly support implementation of this policy. It will be supported by operational procedures.