2025 May ARS Board Report - Records Management Plan Update
Renfrewshire Council · 19 May 2025
Back to Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Board — 19 May 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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1 ___________________________________________________________________ To: Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Board On: 19th May 2025 ___________________________________________________________________ Report by: Director of Finance and Resources ___________________________________________________________________ Heading: Records Management Plan Update ___________________________________________________________________ 1 Summary The Council provides the Keeper of the Records of Scotland (“the Keeper”) with an annual update on progress made towards our Records Management Plan (“RMP”). The update is referred to as a Progress Update Review (“PUR”). The Council received our latest PUR invitation on 08 August 2024 and provided our response on 29 November 2024. We received a draft PUR response from The Keeper’s Assessment Team on 16th April 2025. ___________________________________________________________________ 2 Recommendations It is recommended that the Board: • Note the progress of the Council Records Management Plan. ___________________________________________________________________ 3 Background
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3.1 In March 2016 the Council submitted its original RMP in compliance
with the Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011 to the Keeper and
conditional agreement from the Keeper was received on 16 August
2016. This meant that the Keeper had fully accepted 9 out of the 14
elements of the RMP with the remaining 5 elements classed as Amber
being on an "Improvement Route”.
3.2 Following annual PURs, 4 of the 5 'amber' elements were improved to
green. The remaining one Amber element was therefore: Element 4 -
Business Classification Scheme (“BCS”). A BCS represents the
business activities of the Council in a hierarchical way, structured by
function. The BCS should be used as a tool to assist with the
structuring of information created and used by the Council.
3.3 A policy and guidance document outlining the classification(s) relevant
to each function of the Council is visible on the Council's intranet page.
The Records Management Officer ("RMO") has been working with
representatives in each service area to implement the scheme in the
structuring of Council information.
3.4 The Council’s Records Retention Schedule has been improved to
categorise entries in line with the Council’s BCS.
3.5 Further work to implement the BCS on legacy shared area network
drives, SharePoint sites, and line of business systems is ongoing. This
involves a tidying up of the information stored on these areas, ensuring
folder structures are consistent with the hierarchical structure
represented in the BCS, to aid the efficiency and functionality of the
records used by Council employees.
3.6 The Keeper’s Assessment Team has now provided a response to the
2024 PUR submission where we have advised her of the above-
mentioned steps towards the Business Classification Element, as well
as provided updates on Element 2 (Records Manager) and Element 3
(Policy) and Element 5 (Retention Schedule).
3.7 The Assessment Team have advised that the way the Council apply
records management, having devolved responsibility to Council
services, and ensuring the high-level visibility of the scheme via intranet
pages, is good practice and commendable.
3.8 The Assessment Team have also recognised the time needed to
implement a structure, advising that they look forward to updates and
that the Council's 'amber' grading in this element will remain throughout
this transition.Page 3
3 3.9 The Council advised the Keeper of a routine update to the Records Management Policy. As laid out in the Council's RMP and in the PRSA legislation, regular updates to the policy are required. The Policy was approved at the 2024 Finance and Resources Customer Service Board and is on the intranet for visibility for all staff. 3.10 The Assessment Team considered this update a 'welcome' assurance that the process laid out was still being followed. 3.11 The Council provided an update that the Corporate Retention Schedule had moved from a PDF document to a SharePoint site to reflect the need for the document to be 'dynamic' and able to change to reflect the business needs, as and when required. Retention entries are kept under regular review by the services and service-level representatives attend the quarterly meetings of the Records Management Working Group. 3.12 The Keeper commended Renfrewshire Council and Licensing Board's recognition and understanding of the benefits to having a live document. 3.13 The Council also provided an update on the Information Governance team structure to the Keeper’s Assessment Team in the 2023 PUR. The update advised that the creation of the RMO to replace the Records Manager post was designed with records management compliance in mind. The restructure allows for a greater focus on records management by separating the responsibility for records management from the coordination of information requests. 3.14 The Assessment Team advised that this restructure was ‘welcome’ and considered an improvement for records management at the Council. 3.15 The Council is on track to progress its one remaining ‘amber’ element and the continued participation in the PUR process allows for the Council to have regular interactions with the Keeper to ensure it is progressing in implementing the best practice of records management. Implications of the Report 1. Financial – none 2. HR & Organisational Development – none
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4 3. Community Planning – Implementing good records management principles within the organisation supports the Council to deliver on its key objectives and priorities. 4. Legal – Implementation of the RMP is a key element in complying with the Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011. 5. Property/Assets – none 6. Information Technology – none 7. Equality & Human Rights - The Recommendations contained within this report have been assessed in relation to their impact on equalities and human rights. No negative impacts on equality groups or potential for infringement of individuals’ human rights have been identified arising from the recommendations contained in the report as it provides an update on the Council’s Records Management Plan and is for noting only. If required following implementation, the actual impact of the recommendations and the mitigating actions will be reviewed and monitored, and the results of the assessment will be published on the Council’s website. 8. Health & Safety – none 9. Procurement – none 10. Risk – none 11. Privacy Impact - Effective records management can only have a positive impact on people’s privacy whereby records are only retained for as long as necessary and are kept securely. 12. Climate Risk - none 13. Children’s Rights – none 12. Cosla Policy Position - none _________________________________________________________ List of Background Papers (a) none ___________________________________________________________________
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5 Author: Stacey Anderson, Records Management Officer, tel: 0141 487 1085, Stacey.Anderson@renfrewshire.gov.uk.