BIG LOTTERY FUND Document archive and retention policy

BIG LOTTERY FUND Document archive and retention policy December 2010 Sonia Howe Head of Information Governance For further information regarding retention schedules please contact Page 1 of 18

Version Control Version: 3.1 Date: December 2010 Author: Sonia Howe Head of Information Governance Abbreviations DCMS Department for Culture, Media and Sport DPA Data Protection Act 1998 FoIA Freedom of Information Act 2000 NAO National Audit Office TNA The National Archives Table of Contents 1 Introduction 3 2 Data Protection 3 3 Scope of the policy 4 4 Statutory basis 4 5 Purpose of the archives 4 6 The policy 5 7 Implementation of the policy 6 Appendix one Future archive management Appendix two Legislation Appendix three Retention schedules 8 9 10 For further information regarding retention schedules please contact Page 2 of 18

1 Introduction 1.1 The main aim of this archive and retention policy is to enable the Big Lottery Fund to comply with the requirements of relevant legislation, including the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 1998. Following this policy will enable BIG to track documents, assist in planning an Electronic Document Records Management project and help provide openness and transparency to the public. 1.2 This policy is required to support the organised creation, retrieval, proper storage and preservation of BIG s essential records. 1.3 In addition, it is essential to support the appropriate disposal of documents with no continuing business, legal or historical significance. 1.4 As a publicly funded, accountable body, BIG must maintain records of potential interest to staff, stakeholders and members of the public. Records of activities and achievements contain accumulated experience, expertise and knowledge. 2 Data Protection 2.1 This policy will ensure that BIG is complying with the golden rule of the Data Protection Act which requires that we do not store material that has no business use. 2.2 To comply with the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998, an organisation must: only keep information for as long as there is a business need keep records secure, whether electronic or paper allow a person access to information held about them, should they request it. 2.3 It follows that BIG should: destroy papers and electronic data for which there is no continuing business need and send papers that cannot be destroyed to archive for as short a time as possible keep data secure while it remains in any office keep track of where information is stored continue to apply these good practices to avoid stockpiling papers in the future. For further information regarding retention schedules please contact Page 3 of 18

3 Scope of the Policy 3.1 This policy encompasses: records created by or behalf of country and regional offices of BIG and staff in their duties for BIG records received by any member of staff in the course of BIG s business hard copy and electronic records including Internet and Intranet sites, databases, emails, films and videos. 3.2 This policy will ensure that the: requirements of the Freedom of Information Act, Environmental Information Regulations and Public Records Act are adhered to; information can be obtained to trace all activities or transactions; records are readily accessible if required; records can be interpreted at any future time to establish context, creator, business process under which they were created and their relationship to other BIG records; records are reliable and their integrity and authenticity is clear; and records of BIG s activities are maintained on a consistent and reliable basis. 4 Statutory Basis 4.1 The Big Lottery Fund was formed from the New Opportunities Fund and the National Lottery Charities Board (which made grants under the name of the Community Fund). Both are Non-Departmental Public Bodies established under the National Lottery Act 1993, as amended by the National Lottery Act 1998. As such BIG is covered by the provisions of the Public Records Act (1958). 4.2 The Big Lottery Fund s responsibility is to balance public right to access to information about its activities with cost efficiency and business benefit. Public bodies are generally subject to the 30 year rule requiring them to publish records 30 years after origination by depositing them with the TNA. However, the TNA advises that public bodies may dispose of records that have no continuing business significance before this date, provided they have a clearly stated retention schedule. For further information regarding retention schedules please contact Page 4 of 18

5 Purpose of the Archives 5.1 Archives exist to: assist in the preparation of responses to enquiries from Members of Parliament, government departments and the National Audit Office, making BIG accountable in its role as the a national body distributing public money from the National Lottery; help BIG comply with its statutory obligations, in particular the Freedom of Information Act 2000, under which access to information must be provided in a timely and reliable way; and to enable BIG staff and customers to get the right type of business information easily when required and all relevant historical information that will inform future decision making. 6 The Policy 6.1 All records created by or on behalf of the National Lottery Charities Board, New Opportunities Fund and Big Lottery Fund s corporate, country and regional offices and staff in the course of their duties will belong to the Big Lottery Fund. This includes any rights or copyrights in the content, except where specifically provided under copyright legislation. 6.2 All records received on behalf of the Big Lottery Fund as part of its business will be its property, which may be disposed of or released as BIG and its officers see fit or as required by law. Originators and owners rights will be fully respected in accordance with legislation. 6.3 Responsibility for depositing and disposing of archive records rests with directors/divisional heads. It is their responsibility to ensure that complete and accurate records are retained in line with legislative requirements (see appendix two) and good practice. 6.4 Responsibility for managing and tracking records rests with directors/divisional heads. In the corporate office, responsibility lies with the facilities directorate. Country and regional offices are currently responsible for their own archiving. 6.5 Staff will create, use, manage and preserve the records in accordance with all statutory requirements including the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Directors/divisional heads will determine that a file is closed (no longer required for current business usage). It can then be added For further information regarding retention schedules please contact Page 5 of 18

to the archive, a procedure note for this is dependent on the tendering for a new archiving contract (see appendix one) 6.6 Responsibility for records created by board members lies with the board secretariat in Planning and Performance. Merged or changed regions, disbanded departments or completed projects rests with the directors/divisional heads of adjacent or successor regions. 6.7 The cost of storage and retrieval is significant and many business records have little value beyond accountability purposes. However, directors/divisional heads may choose to retain records for longer than the indicative periods given in the retention schedule, for example if they consider records to be of significant historical value or if the issue with which they are concerned remains live. 7 Policy implementation 7.1 Each year at a minimum, the records which are no longer required under the schedule should be reviewed and destroyed. In line with Date Protection Act paper files containing details about persons and /or holding sensitive information should be shredded. Responsibility for ownership and destruction of files rests with the team that created the file, or if the team has disbanded over time, the most sensible link. 7.2 Effective implementation of the archive and retention policy requires the retention schedules in Appendix three to be adhered to rigidly. The only exceptions to this will be for grants that are deemed to be of historical significance which will be submitted to the National Archives for permanent preservation and any files that may be under investigation. To maintain a consistent archive, staff are required to maintain working files and records of their activity to enable decisions taken to be tracked and to facilitate handover if they leave the Big Lottery Fund. 7.3 Grant making staff will also be required to ensure that all documents related to an asset with a liability period of longer than that of the file is removed from the file before archiving. This process is detailed in the Operations grant manual. 7.4 A database of all archived materials should be stored centrally with the facilities team in the Corporate Services directorate. Responsibility for archiving will lie with facilities in Glasgow, Belfast, Cardiff, Newcastle, Birmingham and London. A common procedure and protocol for updating the database will need to be developed and followed consistently to ensure an accurate record of our archived material is maintained. For further information regarding retention schedules please contact Page 6 of 18

Appendix one future archive management Ownership of the records remains with BIG as a whole and the originating department in particular. It is the responsibility of divisional heads to maintain and review their archive holdings on a regular basis to ensure compliance with the archive policy and facilitate speedy retrieval. Local polices should be shared with the Head of Information Governance to ensure consistency. The procedure will require that the database of all materials in archive is held in one place for the organisation as a whole. The most appropriate place for this is facilities in the Corporate Services directorate. Records may be stored in hard copy, film, video and tape. In future it may be possible to store in other electronic media. When to archive Items should be added to the archive when a department or team no longer has a business need for the documents. Documents should only be retrieved in exceptional circumstances, therefore if it is likely that a file will need to be viewed it should be retained on site, unless there is insufficient storage space. Files or items when added to the archive will be recorded on the database that will be maintained by facilities. The database captures the minimum amount of information about files to enable their retrieval and disposal at the end of their useful life. The information captured must include the date that the item is due for destruction or the file will not be accepted for archive. Retrieving files Retrieving documents from archive must be for a valid business reason, the cost of retrieving files is high. Access to the archive will be granted unless the records have been classified as confidential. All items in archive are available for next day delivery, however, for non urgent retrievals they may be grouped to reduce the costs of delivery. Disposal of records At the end of their useful life, records should be confidentially destroyed. In general, records will not be retained beyond the lifespan indicated in the retention schedule unless the director/head of unit of the originating department indicates otherwise. The retention period is computed from the end of the financial year to which the records relate. Specialist Deed Storage All of the off site storage used by the Fund complies with appropriate industry standards on archiving. A small amount of space is available in a specialist For further information regarding retention schedules please contact Page 7 of 18

deed storage section to store deeds and other legal documentation. If access to this specific storage then please contact Specialist retention schedules Some non lottery funding programmes require enhanced retention schedules due to the audit requirements of funders. The Lifeskills programme in Wales is a co financed programme with money from the European Social Fund. The retention period for certain pieces of information on this programme exceed the standard Big Lottery Fund retention periods, and so a bespoke retention schedule can be found at Annex 3b If bespoke retention schedules are needed on other non lottery programmes then please contact the Head of Information Governance as early as possible within the programme development process. For further information regarding retention schedules please contact Page 8 of 18

Appendix two Legislation Information should be kept by the Big Lottery Fund for as long as it is needed to carry out its business objectives and to comply with any third party obligations. When deciding the retention periods for records, consideration should be given to these third party requirements. Documents that may be of national interest must be reviewed, to assess their archival value. These records may be transferred to National Archives for permanent preservation. Governance National Lottery etc Act 1993; The National Lottery Act 1998 Financial regulations Employment regulations Equalities and Human Resources Health and Safety The Companies Act 1995; Value Added Tax Act 1994; Taxes Management Act 1970 Employment Relations Act 1999 Collective Redundancies and Transfer of Undertaking (Protection of,) 1999 Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 1999 It is unlawful to discriminate on the grounds of sex/gender, marital status, race, religion, sexual orientation or disability in line with the following legislation: Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and 1986; Equal Pay Act 1970; Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 Disability Discrimination Act 1995; The Northern Ireland Act 1998 (S75); The Welsh Language Act 1993; Human Rights Act 1998; Employment Rights Act 1996; Equal Pay Act 1970 (amendment 1986); Employment Acts 1980 and 1982; Supported by various codes of practice Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 with regulations enforceable under the Act including Control of Substance Hazardous to Health COSHH, Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) regulations, Environmental Protection Act Data Protection 1998; Freedom of Information Act 2000; Environmental Information Regulations 2004 Information Commissioner National Public Records Act 1958 Archives Other legislation Civil Evidence Act 1995 ; The Limitation Act 1980 Best Practice Retention and disposal schedules recommended by the National Archives (former Public Records Office) For further information regarding retention schedules contact Page 9 of 18

Appendix three Retention Schedules All retention periods should be computed from the end of the financial year (end of March) to which the records relate. For example an unsuccessful application rejected in November 2003 can be destroyed in April 2006. For any documents within these schedules that span more than one directorate, the longer time frame should be used. For example, a document which would be kept in Corporate Services for three years, but is needed for audit purposes for six years, the longer timescale would be used. Documents not included in this schedule do not have an agreed retention period or a legal requirement to retain. For these documents, such as internal emails, minutes of team meetings or work plans the following guidance should be followed: No Is the document an internal email? Yes No Does the document have an ongoing business need? Yes Does the email have an ongoing business need? No Yes Destroy document Retain document until it no longer has any relevance to the business Save email in appropriate folder Delete email *Ongoing business need could mean that the document is still needed for reference or the project / work plan it relates to is still live. This flow chart is only relevant for documents not listed in the retention schedules. For further information regarding retention schedules contact Page 10 of 18

Annex 3a Standard Big Lottery Fund Retention Schedule This retention schedule is to be used for all lottery funded programmes and internal documentation. Some non lottery programmes require longer retention periods due to audit requirements by funders. File Retention period Source Notes Grant making Unsuccessful application file / Outline Proposal Forms Successful compliant grant file without assets Successful compliant grant file with assets Successful grant file with historical significance 2 years from decision Best practice 6 years after end of grant report received. As above for main file Details of assets to be removed from file and stored separately for the asset liability period Permanent preservation with the National Archives Best practice Best practice Best practice Corporate Services - HR Job applications and interview records for unsuccessful applicants 6 months after notifying unsuccessful candidates Sex Discrimination and Race Relations Acts Training History 2 years Best practice Current basic details (addresses etc) Until superseded Data Protection Act Non-compliant files under dispute or investigations should be retained. This would be a substantial grant of national significance, such as the Millennium Dome. Advice can be obtained from the Head of Information Governance. For further information regarding retention schedules contact Page 11 of 18

File Retention period Source Notes Pension details Held by the DTI All other HR documents 6 years after end of employment Employment Relations Act, Sex Discrimination Act, Race Relations Act Corporate Services - Finance Insurance public liability policies, product Life of the organisation Best Practice liability policies, employers liability policies Group health policies, group personal accident 12 years after cessation of benefit The Limitation Act 1980 policies Correspondence with Inland Revenue Review every three years Best Practice Internal correspondence 1 year Best Practice All other financial records 6 years from creation Tax Management Act 1970, The Limitation Act 1980, Value Added Tax Act 1994, Companies Act 1985 Corporate Services Health and Safety and Facilities Property Acquisition (purchase, donation, lease, rental, transfer, etc) Deeds and certificates Ownership of property, asset liability period Best Practice Personal exposure to hazardous materials by 40 years from incident Best Practice identifiable employee Records of archived materials For documents retention period Best Practice Corporate Services IT Back up of email server 6 years Best Practice Emails are currently permanently archived with a company called For further information regarding retention schedules contact Page 12 of 18

File Retention period Source Notes RECALL every 4 th Friday. User support 1 year Best Practice Copy of website Permanent preservation with the National Archives (TNA) Copy to be made every 6 months and stored for 6 years if not requested by TNA The National Archives Copy of final New Opportunities Fund and Community Fund website. BIG on requests. All other files 6 years from creation Best Practice Policy and Communications Details of events 3 years from creation Best Practice All other documents 6 years from creation Best Practice Projects All programmes and project team documents 6 years from completion of project Best Practice Major Capital projects At least 10 years Best Practice Review for permanent preservation Customer Care Details of complaints, statistics and log 6 years from resolution Best practice Legal Records on establishment and development of the organisation s legal framework and governance Legal grant file (Legal opinion, certificate of title, deeds of dedication etc) Freedom of Information, Data Protection, Environmental Information Regulations. List of requests and responses, statistics, log. Life of organisation Best practice Review for archival value Asset liability period Best practice 6 years from completion of request Best practice For further information regarding retention schedules contact Page 13 of 18

File Retention period Source Notes Litigation with third parties where legal Life of organisation The Limitation Act 1980 precedents were set Litigation with third parties with no legal 6 years after settlement of case The Limitation Act 1980 precedents Provision of Legal advice 6 years from date of advice Best Practice Contracts under seal 12 years after termination The Limitation Act 1980 Other contracts and agreements 6 years after termination The Limitation Act 1980 Unsuccessful tender documents 1 year after date of last paper The Limitation Act 1980 Audit Final Reports 7 years after legal proceedings Best Practice Fraud Investigations Other Audit reports and documents 6 years from completion Best Practice Strategy, Performance and Learning Strategic Plan, Business Plan, Risks etc 6 years from completion Best Practice Review after 5 years for archival value Board Board minutes and papers Other Board documents and details of appointments Regional Committees All regional committee papers, minutes, agendas and appointments Permanent preservation with The National Archives National Archives 6 years from creation Best Practice Review appointments for archival value 6 years from creation Best Practice Consultation with The National Archives required before destruction. For further information regarding retention schedules contact Page 14 of 18

Annex 3b- Life Skills Retention Schedule This retention schedule has been developed for the Life Skills programme in Wales, a co-financed ESF programme. This programme has longer retention periods due to ESF audit requirements. Similar co-financed ESF programmes may need to use this schedule, but should seek advice from the Head of Information Governance. The Big Lottery Fund is responsible for maintaining adequate records to fully document all expenditure and for making them available, as required, to the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO) and to auditors. Failure to provide supporting documentation relating to structural fund activity will result in a claw back of grant funding. The EC requires WEFO, as Managing Authority for the Welsh Operational Programmes, and all participants in Structural Funds-related activity to retain ALL supporting documentation in relation to programme expenditure and audits, for a period of three years following payment of the final programme balance by the EC to the Welsh Ministers. This means at least until 2024, but the Big Lottery Fund must retain all documents until WEFO advises otherwise. File Retention period Source Notes Operations Grant making Unsuccessful tender documentation Until 2024 as a minimum WEFO Guidance Successful compliant grant file without assets to include all records on project activity and beneficiaries all correspondence all applications and payment forms Successful compliant grant file with assets Until 2024 as a minimum WEFO Guidance Non-compliant files under dispute or investigations should be retained. As above for main file Details of assets to be removed from file and stored separately for the asset liability period WEFO Guidance/Best practice Successful grant file with historical significance Permanent preservation with the Best practice National Archives Details of support and aftercare offered to Until 2024 as a minimum WEFO Guidance For further information regarding retention schedules contact Page 15 of 18

File Retention period Source Notes projects Full details on each tendering exercise to Until 2024 as a minimum WEFO Guidance include bidding process, selection criteria, justification for the appointment of the successful contractor and sector to which successful contractor relates, exchanges of correspondence offering and accepting contracts, tender report, details of tenderers, sources of match funding as a result of a procurement exercise; Corporate Services - HR Staff time sheets Until 2024 as a minimum WEFO Guidance Salary details for staff working on the Until 2024 as a minimum WEFO Guidance programme Corporate Services - Finance All financial records to include receipted invoices, payments, bank statements, credit card statements, evidence of match funding other supporting accounting documentation to identify all incurred and defrayed expenditure claimed on a project Until 2024 as a minimum WEFO Guidance For further information regarding retention schedules contact Page 16 of 18

File Retention period Source Notes Communications All documents relating to publicity of the Life Skills programme to include evidence of the activity undertaken to publicise structural fund support and comply with regulatory requirements plaques, press cuttings, press releases, advertisements, photographs marketing materials; Programme Development All programmes and project team documents relating to Life Skills Customer Correspondence Details of complaints for the Life Skills programme Until 2024 as a minimum Until 2024 as a minimum Until 2024 as a minimum WEFO Guidance WEFO Guidance WEFO Guidance Legal Service Provision of Legal advice for Life Skills programme Until 2024 as a minimum, or 6 years from date of advice, whichever is longer Contracts under seal for Life Skills programme Until 2024 as a minimum, or 12 years after termination, whichever is longer Other contracts and agreements for Life Skills programme Until 2024 as a minimum, or 6 years after termination, whichever is longer WEFO Guidance/ Best Practice WEFO Guidance/ The Limitation Act 1980 WEFO Guidance/ The Limitation Act 1980 For further information regarding retention schedules contact Page 17 of 18

File Retention period Source Notes Unsuccessful tender documents for Life Skills programme Audit Final Reports Fraud Investigations Until 2024 as a minimum Until 2024 as a minimum, or 7years from legal proceedings, whichever is longer Other Audit reports and documents Until 2024 as a minimum, or 6 years from creation, whichever is longer Planning Strategic Plan, Business Plan, Risks etc relating to Life Skills programme Board Board minutes and papers relating to Life Skills programme Until 2024 as a minimum Until 2024 as a minimum then review for permanent preservation with National Archives WEFO Guidance WEFO Guidance/ Best Practice Best Practice WEFO Guidance WEFO Guidance The National Archives For further information regarding retention schedules contact Page 18 of 18