One of the priorities in any move of records and other information following a transfer of functions is information security.
Security provision should be proportionate to the nature, contents and sensitivity level of the information and should conform to the principles of the Security Policy Framework (SPF), ensuring that confidentiality, integrity and availability of information is appropriately maintained.
Any transferring organisation should satisfy itself that the receiving organisation has the necessary accreditation, infrastructure, procedures and policies in place, that is the capacity to hold and protect the material, and the organisational culture to treat it appropriately. Commercial and other partners who may be involved in handling the move of records should follow the same principles and practice.
Step one
Identify what material should be transferred to the receiving organisation and the nature of any risks associated, for example, with regards sensitivity or personal data.
Step two
Assess whether the receiving organisation meets appropriate security requirements or if existing information communications technology (ICT) infrastructure, policies and procedures will need to be revised or upgraded. This should be done by or under the auspices of the Departmental Security Officer (DSO)s concerned and guidance on accreditation and the implementation of information assurance (IA) and risk management should be sought from CESG, who are the UK’s National Technical Authority for IA. Organisations should also follow Office of the Government Senior Information Risk Owner (OGSIRO)’s guidance on managing information risk.
Step three
Only when any necessary upgrading or implementation of appropriate security measures has taken place should the material be moved. The method of transit and the security measures employed to protect the information during the move should conform to the principles of the SPF and relevant CESG IA Standards and Guidance.
This section deals with private office records and parliamentary considerations.
Parliamentary questions
Live Parliamentary questions (PQ) become the responsibility of the new Minister straight after the announcement of any machinery of government change, unless a later date is specified. On the assumption that staff will move with functions, answers to these parliamentary questions will be prepared by the same officers as before but sent to the Parliamentary Branch of the receiving organisation for sign-off by Ministers and forwarding to Parliament.
The following steps should be taken:
- Parliamentary Branch of the transferring Department should pass details of all live PQs to the Parliamentary Branch of the receiving Department – for each PQ the text, MP, UIN and name and contact details of the official dealing with it
- the receiving Parliamentary Branch should enter details of live PQs in its PQ system
- the transferring Parliamentary Branch should tell policy officers who is responsible for PQs in the receiving Department and where to send their answers
- replies should be filed by the receiving Parliamentary Branch in accordance with its current practice
- the transferring Parliamentary Branch should brief the receiving Branch on past and expected future PQs and provide staff directory details so that the receiving Department can allocate new PQs
- the transferring Parliamentary Branch should give details of the transfer of functions to the Table Office in Parliament, copying the receiving Department into the notification
Other Parliamentary business
The receiving Parliamentary Branch will need briefing about future Parliamentary business relating to newly acquired functions. Handover notes should include details of the following:
- legislation going through Parliament
- select committee and other committee inquiries
- all notified business in the House of Commons
- relevant timetabled debates and debates scheduled but not on Order Papers
- forthcoming Parliamentary business already announced
- scheduled written Ministerial statements
- other developments pending but not yet announced
Both teams overseeing the change need to ensure that the transfer of all forms of knowledge and information is effectively managed. They should develop a communications plan to ensure any users or customers of a function being transferred receive an uninterrupted service as far as possible. They should also ensure that the changes are communicated widely within both organisations.
Communications should include:
- staff at all levels whose work is closely affected by the transfer of functions
- Private Offices, Parliamentary and Ministerial Correspondence Units
- enquiry services, call centres, help lines and libraries
- major suppliers for example paper records storage suppliers
- IT providers for example where one or both of the organisations have outsourced their IT
If knowledge champions or officers have been appointed within the organisations, they should also be fully involved in ensuring business continuity across the transition. Both organisations should ensure that risk registers covering records and information are updated following the change.
Vital records transferred should be added to the receiving organisation’s business continuity and disaster plans and removed from the transferring organisation’s plans.
The team responsible for transferring information will need to decide on the records to be transferred, in close consultation with the business unit currently responsible for the function. Not dealing properly with this aspect can lead to the build-up of backlogs of unidentified paper records in basements or off site storage; resulting in higher storage and staff costs, as well as a potential loss of important information.
Digital records and information are vulnerable to loss and corruption so it is important to manage digital information and records carefully through any machinery of government change.
If the transfer of information between organisations is not managed effectively there are considerable risks that vital information could be lost and that organisations will fail to comply with information legislation, therefore it is important that organisations plan for machinery of government changes.
A wide range of information needs to be considered when planning for a machinery of government change:
- paper files – relevant paper records, including personnel and index file
- digital information, including documents held on shared drives, contacts, databases, CRM systems, emails, information stored in Electronic Document and Records Management Systems (EDRMS), Geographical Information Systems (GIS), case management systems and datasets
- relevant publications, guidance or training manuals and procedural information, whether in hard copy or digital format
- system and contract information
- knowledge held informally in personal folders or not written down
Private office
This section assumes that records are managed in accordance with Cabinet Office and The National Archives’ guidance on managing private office information and records.
Documents produced by Ministers in the course of their official ministerial responsibilities are public records and are subject to Crown copyright protection. It is important therefore that any such documents should not be retained by a Minister who is moving to the receiving organisation. Private Office staff will need to arrange for the immediate handover of records and information relating to the functions being transferred to another Minister or organisation.
Arrange a handover session to brief the new Private Secretary. Care should be taken to extract any personal material relating to the Minister (such as private diary engagements, or financial records, for example of mobile phone bills) before official material is transferred or destroyed.
The following steps should be taken:
Ministers’ diaries and notebooks
- official engagements relating to a transferred function should be extracted from Ministers’ diaries so that details can be passed to the Minister taking over responsibility for that function
Cabinet papers
- Cabinet documents relating to past meetings in the areas being transferred should be returned to the Cabinet Office
Official submissions and records
- copies of submissions relating to transferred functions can be destroyed
- copies of records of Ministers’ meetings and telephone conversations in which policy officials have been involved can also be destroyed
- records of meetings and telephone calls that did not involve policy officials should be filed on a diary file or attached to the diary entry and passed to the Departmental Records Officer in the transferring organisation
Personal material
- if the Minister is moving to the new Department, any purely personal material should be packed securely and sent to him/her or if unimportant it should be destroyed
- personal digital information should be deleted unless the Minister requires a copy
Sir Alex Allan’s review
Sir Alex Allan is a senior civil servant who is currently the Prime Minister’s independent adviser on ministerial standards. In March 2014, the Cabinet Secretary asked him to carry out a review of how government departments were managing their process for releasing records.
The review covered the:
- annual release of papers
- ability and readiness of government departments to meet the requirements of moving from a 30- to a 20-year rule
- process for withholding information where release would harm individuals or the national interest
The review was commissioned by the Prime Minister and covers records from UK government departments but not from Scottish, Welsh or Northern Ireland governments or the intelligence agencies. Read Sir Alex Allan’s records review.
In response to the review The National Archives will support each of the recommendations in the ways outlined below.
Information Management Assessments
We will:
- continue to build on the Information Management Assessment Programme to provide a robust assessment of departments’ information management capability
- ensure all the major government departments undertake Information Management Assessments by March 2016
- reassess government departments every three to five years depending on level of risk
- publish all reports and action plans online
- support departmental Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) teams to implement the recommendations by providing advice, training and guidance
- review implementation of the Information Management Assessment action plans with departments at six and 12 months to monitor if recommendations are being implemented
- publish and update the forward programme of reviews online
- undertake unscheduled assessments where there are concerns about a department’s performance
- publish a good practice report highlighting case studies of good practice from the Information Management Assessments
- publish a summary of lessons learnt from the Information Management Assessments by December 2015 highlighting examples of best practice and common areas where improvements are needed
- update the Information Management Self-Assessment to allow departments and other public sector bodies to evaluate their information management performance
- promote the S46 Code of Practice as the guide to good information management
Accounting and reporting
We will:
- report annually to the meeting of Permanent Secretaries, by the Keeper of The National Archives, giving an overview of departmental performance
- encourage departments to conduct audits and to report on the accuracy of the figures returned when collecting data on legacy holdings for the record transfer report
- require departments to compile, update and publish ‘What to Keep’ schedules on their pages on GOV.UK and to demonstrate how those are being applied to their digital information systems
Supporting wider government initiatives
We will:
- support Cabinet Office in leading the review and release of records due to transfer, to allow themed releases
- continue to work with Crown Commercial Services in the role of intelligent customer function to advise on potential for outsourcing of records management
The digital challenge
We will:
- continue to provide advice, training and guidance on how to appraise and select digital records and keep them safe by applying the principles of digital continuity
- continue to develop our processes for the ingest of digital records and plan for the digital records future through our Digital Transfer Project, currently underway
- contribute to and support the review into the strategy for digital records as recommended by both the Dacre review (2007) and the report by Sir Alex Allan
Widening engagement
We will:
- support the Head of the KIM Profession in the development of skills for managing information and records in government departments
- work with heads of KIM to support a consistent approach to how they cover their Information management status in the annual reporting cycle