Request
I should be grateful if you could send me the dataset of the approx. 14,000 records listed on the expiry report. I acknowledge the restrictions on the accuracy that you have mentioned [see CAS-123685]
Outcome
Information provided.
Response
Please find attached an Excel file listing retained records. This was produced by the expiry report on 21st May 2023 and is a raw dataset of records listed on Discovery, where the retention expired before 2022, and where the originating department responsible for the records was the Cabinet Office, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and the Ministry of Defence (MoD). This report lists the originating department, the catalogue references of the records (comprised of letter codes, series and piece references), and the retention expiry year (the closure code).
As we have stated previously in the decision notice for FOI request CAS-123685, we are unable to confirm the current status of these records. Records are being released on Discovery on an ongoing basis and therefore the access status of some of these records may have changed since the report was run. A spot check of these records has found that the report included records that are now available to access at The National Archives. There may also be pending retention applications that are awaiting sign off by the Secretary of State for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The expiry report may also list records awaiting processing at The National Archives, where a department has transferred the record. Once processed, Discovery is updated. There may also be instances where the retention of a record has expired and the department has continued retention under a blanket retention instrument. A final point to note is that there may also be instances of shared letter codes where the responsible department is no longer the Cabinet Office, FCDO or MoD.
https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/expired-retentions-pre-2022.xlsx