Sensitivity review

Definition

Before transferring selected records to The National Archives or to a Place of Deposit, departments must carry out a sensitivity review.

Sensitivity review is the process of determining whether records should be:

  • transferred “open”, as no Freedom of Information (FOIA) exemptions or Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) exceptions apply.
  • transferred “closed”, either in full or in part, as FOIA exemptions or EIR exceptions apply; or
  • retained under section 3(4) of the Public Records Act, as they are classified above OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE.

Closure and retention both require the agreement of the Advisory Council on National Records and Archives (ACNRA), an independent body which advises the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on issues relating to access to public records and represents the public interest in deciding what records should be open or closed. Closure of records being transferred before they are 20 years old  falls outside of ACNRA’s scope but is quality assured in a similar way.
 

Guiding Principles

To sensitivity review records in an effective and efficient way, departments should consider the following guiding principles:

Public access to records should not be restricted without good reason

FOIA includes exemptions, and the EIR include exceptions, to protect legitimate interests and sensitivities, but departments should ensure that records are open on transfer where possible or, if closed, become open to the public at the earliest possible time.

Closure should be specific

Departments must provide justification for closing records, citing all relevant FOIA exemptions or EIR exceptions. When considering qualified exemptions or exceptions, records should remain closed where the public interest in keeping them closed outweighs that of making them available. Large volumes of records should not be closed if only a few contain sensitive information. The most common reason for closure is that records contain personal information about identifiable living individuals. In such cases disclosure would breach one of the Data Protection Principles and is therefore exempt under FOIA exemption 40 or the regulation 13 exception in the EIR.

Closure should be consistent

Access conditions should be consistent across similar information in other records or in records being transferred by different departments. Departments should establish a sensitivity review methodology, building on their expertise in their records. They should also consult with other departments as necessary during the sensitivity review process.

Closure should be finite

When carrying out sensitivity review it is not always possible to identify a specific date at which records can be opened, but a date should be set for the records to be re-reviewed.