There are a number of white papers providing further background information on many subjects. To access the latest additions or the top 15 use the menu tabs above. To download a document simply click on the name and complete the form.

A practitioners guide to FOI (337 KB)
File Name: A_practitioners_guide_to_FOI_2.1.pdf
Description: This guide outlines a structured approach which will help authorities comply with the legislation. It is consistent with best advice available from the Information Commissioner, the Department of Constitutional Affairs, and sector bodies such as the Local Government standards committee. For public authorities, the challenge under the FOI Act is to provide an open service to the citizens that they serve. A structured approach to information management can help comply with this legislation and at the same time deliver a more efficient service.

Appraisal And Evaluation In Central Government (306.6 KB)
File Name: greenbook.pdf
Description: This guide is to help government departments and agencies appraise and evaluate their activities effectively. It is intended to ensure consistency across government in appraisal and evaluation practice.

It updates the 1991 edition Appraisal is essential to good decision making. Good appraisal calls for flexibility and imagination. It is not a ritual in which rigid rules are applied to the letter.

Appraisal will need to take account of the policy context in which decisions are made. These decisions often need to reflect not only formal analysis, but wider strategic or managerial considerations. Good appraisal, which follows the guidance in this book, will bring these out and provide a framework for well informed judgement, and lead to better decision making.

This edition of the 'Green Book' stresses the importance of evaluation, as well as appraisal, i.e. the systematic examination of decisions already taken in order to learn from them and to improve future decisions. There is a natural tendency, once a decision is taken, to move on to the next and let bygones be bygones. To do this, however, is to sacrifice an invaluable source of learning which can improve future decision making. I hope the material in this guide will encourage the more systematic practice of evaluation within government.

This book represents HM Treasury Guidance but it has been revised in close collaboration with economists across government, and in consultation with Government Social Researchers. I am extremely grateful for their help and encouragement. Individual departments will need to have their own detailed guidance, which is relevant to their own circumstances and which is consistent with this book.

Best Value and Performance Improvement: Handling Workforce Matters In Contracting (77.8 KB)
File Name: odpm_locgov_source_027685.doc
Description: The Race Relations Act 1976, as amended by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 gives local authorities a strengthened legal duty to eliminate discrimination, promote equality of opportunity and good race relations. In light of this, the ODPM have taken the opportunity to update the statutory guidance on handling workforce matters in contracting that was contained in Annex C of the ODPM Circular Best Value and Performance Improvement (March 2003) to include more comprehensive guidance as to how the duties under the Race Relations Act may be relevant to local government procurement policy.

Creating a Classification Scheme and Fileplan (57.2 KB)
File Name: Developing a Fileplan for Local Government v3.pdf
Description: Classifying information is an essential first step to managing it. Classification puts information in context, supports browsing, allows retention policies to be applied and can improve security. Extended into a fileplan, it can provide a structure to support an organisations storage needs. Creating a fileplan can appear to be an enormous task. This paper looks at how to go about creating a classification scheme and fileplan and the issues involved.

Data Protection: Association of Directors of Social Services (906.6 KB)
File Name: adss.pdf
Description: Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS): Calls for common national standards, thresholds and procedures for information sharing and risk management to be implemented by all agencies, and better investment in shared IT and training staff to use it.

Data Protection: Association of Police Authorities (92.7 KB)
File Name: 2-apa.pdf
Description: Calls for more 'straightforward wording' of the Data Protection Act to assist information sharing.

Data Protection: Audit Commission (584.3 KB)
File Name: 3-ac.pdf
Description: Had graded the crime data in Humberside in 2002/03 as 'amber' - moderate in performance but requiring further work - highlighting that data quality needed to be given 'a higher management priority'.

Data Protection: National Audit Office (926.3 KB)
File Name: 5-nao.pdf
Description: Cites recommendations from its recent report in the CRB (see last week's eGov monitor Weekly), including possible legislative changes to allowing the Bureau to gain access to more sources of criminal information.

Data Protection: Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) (1060.5 KB)
File Name: 6-pito.pdf
Description: The Bichard Inquiry
This is a memorandum responding to Sir Michael Bishard's invitation, submited as written evidance to his enquiry by the Police Information Technology Organisation(PITO).

Brief extract: They admit the Police National Computer's architecture is not suited to integrating and sharing information across the Police Service. They have submitted a modernisation proposal for the next Spending Review.

Data Protection: Police Superintendents' Association of England and Wales (316.6 KB)
File Name: 7-psaew.pdf
Description: Recommends that the Data Protection Act be amended to remove any ambiguity or obscurity.

Data Protection: The 'Durant' Case and its impact (142.7 KB)
File Name: 8-durant.pdf
Description: The 'Durant' Case and its impact on the interpretation of the Data Protection Act 1998:

1. What makes 'data personal' within the meaning of 'personal data'? and

2. What is meant by a 'relevant filing system'?

Data Protection: The Law Society (174.6 KB)
File Name: 4-ls.pdf
Description: Urges a "coherent legal framework" matched by "rigorous practical arrangements" to ensure correct recording, retention, and use of personal data by public authorities.

Developing a Business Case for Electronic Document & Records Management (111.1 KB)
File Name: Busines Case for EDRMS v3.pdf
Description: No project will be funded unless a compelling business case can be produced. Many public sector organisations struggle to articulate the business need and financial justification for EDRMS. Spending time and resources just to comply with FOI is not enough. This paper looks at the approaches that have been found to be successful in convincing senior management of the business benefits of the project.

Developing an Information Management Strategy (55.4 KB)
File Name: Information Management Strategy v3.pdf
Description: All too often organisations have a fragmented approach to Information Management, data is duplicated in many places and users are expected to enter the same information many times. Developing an Information Management Strategy is the foundation stone that should be in place before considering cost justifying or implementing EDRMS. This paper looks at the reasons why IMS is so important and how to go about developing one. Note this has been revised on 11 May 2006

DLM Forum - Revising MoReq: A Report on the Scoping of MoReq2 (107.5 KB)
File Name: blake_eng-1.ppt
Description: Richard Blake's (The National Archives of the UK) presentation on behalf of the DLM Forum regarding the development of MoReq2

Document Conversion (107.5 KB)
File Name: Document Conversion.pdf
Description: This white paper addresses the issues which arise when considering the conversion of existing physical archives, that contain documents of different formats and types, into electronic format. These issues are broad in nature including the logistics of capture involving high volumes; the determination of appropriate strategies and tactics, for both delivering the conversion and maintaining normal business operations in the process; and the adoption of appropriate, reliable and sustainable document formats.

Don't let e-mail graveyards expose you to risk and make your information strategy unsustainable (129.9 KB)
File Name: Emailart v2.pdf
Description: The Web in the nineties has swept the fax phenomena away in ptp business communications methods and produced the 'son of fax'. This precocious sibling has quickly out shone its parent and at the same time replaced many of the transactions that were previously conducted through the phone, dramatically reduced mail volumes plus radically changed external and internal business communication.

The 'son of fax' volumes in five years have grown 26 fold between 1995 and 2000 from 101 billion to 2,6 trillion.

Martin Waldron Managing Director of In-Form Consult discusses the impact and implementation of e-mail in today's business environment.

e-GIF 6.0 (129.9 KB)
File Name: TSCv6-1_2004-11-15.pdf
Description: The e-GIF defines the technical policies and specifications governing information flows across government and the public sector. They cover interconnectivity, data integration, e-services access and content management. Version 6.0 contains the high level policy statements, management, implementation and compliance regimes, whilst technical policies and specifications are contained in the Technical Standards Catalogue (TSC).

e-GIF Technical Standards Catalogue version 6 (213.5 KB)
File Name: TSCv6-PC-draft-2004-02-05.pdf
Description: The Technical Standards Catalogue defines the minimum1 set specifications that conform to the technical policies as defined in e-GIF. The current specification for the e-GIF is given below and covers the areas of interconnectivity, data integration, content management metadata and eservices access. Each area comprises of tables containing specifications and includes version numbers and notes. Government is, however, committed to ensuring that these technical policies and specifications are kept aligned to the changing requirements of the public sector and to the evolution of the market and technology.

e-GMS Encoding scheme - Type v1 (195.1 KB)
File Name: Encoding_scheme_type_v1_2002.doc
Description: A list of document and other types, designed for use by the UK public sector. Suitable for websites and internal systems, it can be customised for local use.

e-GMS v3.0 for Web Sites (494.1 KB)
File Name: eGMS version 3_websites.doc
Description: A cut-down version of the e-GMS developed to help those creating local metadata standards for web sites. The e-GMS lists the elements and refinements that provide the structure for metadata used by the UK public sector, along with usage guidance and introductory text.

e-GMS v3.0e (Draft for consultation) (371 KB)
File Name: eGMS3.0e_public_draft.pdf
Description: The e-Government Metadata Standard (e-GMS) has been redrafted to reflect a change in the mandated encoding scheme for the subject element.

Editorial comments, examples and syntax have also been revised throughout the Standard, in line with current guidance and preferred practice.

e-GMS Version 3 (371 KB)
File Name: eGMS version 3.pdf
Description: The e-Government Metadata Standard describes the wide range of metadata, and also indicates which fields are mandatory.

e-Government Interoperability Framework Version 6.1 (176.3 KB)
File Name: eGIF v6_1.pdf
Description: The e-GIF defines the technical policies and specifications governing information flows across government and the public sector. These cover interconnectivity, data integration, e-services access and content management. Version 6.1 contains the high level policy statements, management, implementation and compliance regimes.

e-Government Metadata Standard Version 3.0 (708.6 KB)
File Name: eGMS version 3.doc
Description: The e-Government Metadata Standard lists the elements and refinements that will be used by the public sector to create metadata for information resources. It also gives guidance on the purpose and use of each element. This is version 3.0.

E-mail Management (33.6 KB)
File Name: Email Management v3.pdf
Description: The volume of e-mail continues to increase, as do the threats from poor management of e-mail. Legal liability, confidentiality breaches, damage to reputation and lost productivity can all result. An increasing range of solutions are being provided to solve the issues of e-mail management. This paper looks at strategies for taking control of e-mail, from organisation culture and personal behaviour to classification of information and technical solutions.

FOI Absolute and Qualified Exemptions (23.6 KB)
File Name: FOI Absolute and Qualified Exemptions.doc
Description: The following document gives details of the exemptions and a flow chart detailing how the process for implementing exemptions might work. Also see: FoI Exemption Flowchart
A flowchart showing the proces to follow when applying FoI exemptions.

FOI Exemption Flowchart (25.1 KB)
File Name: FOI EXEMPTIONS Flowchart.doc
Description: A flowchart showing the proces to follow when applying FoI exemptions.

FOI Roles & Responsibilities (25.1 KB)
File Name: Freedom of Information act role & responsibilities.doc
Description: Freedom of Information act - Roles & Responsibilities

Advice and guidance of ther appointnet of an Information Champion

FoI Survey Finding for Central Government Depts (370.4 KB)
File Name: Survey_Central_Gov_Aug2003.pdf
Description: Freedom of Information Act 2000 Survey Findings for Central Government Departments

FoI Survey Finding for NI (144.4 KB)
File Name: FOI Survey Northern Ireland Departments Final2.doc
Description: Freedom of Information Act 2000 Survey Findings: Northern Ireland Departments

FOI Training guidance (25.1 KB)
File Name: Freedom of information act training guidance.doc
Description: This information on training may be a helpful place to start.

The author of this document is The Local e-Government Standards Body using material from DCA

FOI White Paper for Education (118.5 KB)
File Name: MSFT_FOI_Whitepaper.pdf
Description: Microsoft FOI White paper Authored by IFC on the implication of FOI

Guide to Meta-tagging with the IPSV (691.6 KB)
File Name: IPSVHowToMetatag.pdf
Description: Describes how to index (tag) electronic resources using IPSV (Integrated Public Sector Vocabulary) for Subject metadata

Guidelines for Developing Corporate File Plans (96.2 KB)
File Name: IFC_Corporate_FilePlan.pdf
Description: This paper provides a guide to developing a Corporate File Plan

Guidelines on developing a policy for managing email (568.5 KB)
File Name: managing_e-mails.pdf
Description: This guidance provides advice on aspects and areas that should be considered when developing an organisational policy for managing email. The guidance addresses how email can be used as a business tool for internal and external communication and how these types of email communications should be managed as records. Although there is some advice about where email records should be managed the guidance does not provide detailed technical advice on the management of email records.

Guidelines on Implementing a EDRM system (46.3 KB)
File Name: IFC Implementation Methodology v3.pdf
Description: This paper sets our guidelines on the essential phases and steps in implementing a corporate EDRMS systems. The session covers both management and technical aspects of the project. The session includes guidance on User engagement programmes, pre-implementation key tasks, project implementations steps, customer - supplier interface and acceptance testing.

How to perform an information audit (35.3 KB)
File Name: Information Audit Guidelines.doc
Description: This analysis is also good for finding out what is actually used and needed. It can help identify both gaps and redundant information.

You may find the following resources useful:

This information audit guidelines have been developed by the Records management Society Local Government Group

IM Strategy for a Local Authority (108.9 KB)
File Name: IM Strategy for a Local Authority - Slides.pdf
Description: Richard Jeffrey-Cook Managing Director of IFC presented this paper at the Records Management & Enterprise Content Management Conference in Government and Public Bodies conference. The presentation covered developing an information management strategy for a public body - setting out a corporate information vision, reason for change, principals for good information management, and implementing the strategy.

Information Audit Guide (35.3 KB)
File Name: Information Audit Guidelines.doc
Description: This Information Audit Questionnaire, produced by Hertfordshire County Council, may help you collect the high level information that you need:

The material in this link has been provided with authorisation from Hertfordshire County Council

Information Audit Questionnaire (14.8 KB)
File Name: Information Audit Questionaire.doc
Description: Sample questionnaire for performing an Information Audit

This example of interview sheets may help record high level information:

This document has been provided by the Records Management Society.

Introducing Records Management into an Advanced Document Management Programme (247.3 KB)
File Name: Advanced EDRM - A White Paper v3.pdf
Description: This paper examines the implications of:
Applying the principles of electronic records management to a policy making environment, is a well-trodden route for which a number of case studies exist within central government.
Extending those principles to embrace Freedom of Information is a pioneering step: no-one has yet done it, no-one yet knows what to expect in the way of FOI requests, or whether the pattern of requests under the Data Protection Act will also change.

IPSV Maintenance Guide (184.8 KB)
File Name: IPSVMaintenanceGuide.pdf
Description: Explanation of how to manage and maintain the IPSV (Integrated Public Sector Vocabulary)

Metadata and interoperability presentations - 2004 (2084.7 KB)
File Name: CC presentation 04.pdf
Description: List of presentations given by Senior Interoperability Advisor, Colette Coles. Cover topics such as metadata implementation, merging taxonomies and interoperability.
18 Feb 2005

Model Action Plan: Central Governement (184.5 KB)
File Name: central_government.rtf
Description: The National Archives has produced, or collaborated in the production of, model action plans to help different parts of the public sector achieve compliance with the Records Management Code.

Model Action Plan: Further and Higher Education (77.3 KB)
File Name: Education_modelactionplan.pdf
Description: The National Archives has produced, or collaborated in the production of, model action plans to help different parts of the public sector achieve compliance with the Records Management Code.

Model Action Plan: Local Governement (179.6 KB)
File Name: local_government.rtf
Description: The National Archives has produced, or collaborated in the production of, model action plans to help different parts of the public sector achieve compliance with the Records Management Code.

Model Action Plan: National Health Service (186.9 KB)
File Name: national_health.rtf
Description: The National Archives has produced, or collaborated in the production of, model action plans to help different parts of the public sector achieve compliance with the Records Management Code.

Model Action Plan: Police Authorities (113.1 KB)
File Name: police_authorities.rtf
Description: The National Archives has produced, or collaborated in the production of, model action plans to help different parts of the public sector achieve compliance with the Records Management Code.

Model Action Plan: Schools (203 KB)
File Name: schools.rtf
Description: The National Archives has produced, or collaborated in the production of, model action plans to help different parts of the public sector achieve compliance with the Records Management Code.

MoReq 2 Scoping Report as endorsed by the DLM Forum (224 KB)
File Name: MoReq 2 Scoping Report as endorsed by the DLM Forum.pdf
Description: The report scopes a MoReq2 as an updated MoReq (Model requirements for the management of electronic records). It was endorsed by the members at the DLM Forum Annual General Meeting on 6th October 2005.
It is being considered by the European Commission as the basis for an ITT.

MoReq 2 Whitepaper - 'Making MoReq2 work for you' (731.2 KB)
File Name: h5579-moreq2-ep.pdf
Description:

This whitepaper is aimed primarily at senior management who have responsibility for Information Management and implementing corporate EDRM systems. The paper sets out guidelines to assist the reader in assessing whether MoReq2 could be of value for their organization within their EDRM project. It includes review and comment on the main sections of MoReq2, and an assessment of areas that need careful scrutiny. It identifies areas omitted from MoReq2 that may need to be included in your EDRM requirement. For those familiar with the original MoReq, it describes the major changes and enhancements in MoReq2.

NHS Records Management Code of Practice Part 1 (227.7 KB)
File Name: Part1 NHS RM.pdf
Description: The Records Management: NHS Code of Practice has been published by the Department of Health as a guide to the required standards of practice in the management of records for those who work within or under contract to NHS organisations in England. It is based on current legal requirements and professional best practice.

NHS Records Management Code of Practice Part 2 (291.3 KB)
File Name: Part2 NHS RM.pdf
Description: This Annex sets out the minimum periods for which the various records created within the NHS or by predecessor bodies should be retained, either due to their ongoing administrative value or as a result of statutory requirement. It also provides guidance on dealing with records which have ongoing research or historical value and should be selected for permanent preservation as archives and transferred to a Place of Deposit approved by The National Archives.

Public Sector Controlled Vocabulary Directory (1032.2 KB)
File Name: controlled vocabs directory 2004-01-08.doc
Description: This document provides details of thesauri, taxonomies and other controlled vocabularies used by public sector organisations. It is based on a survey carried out by the Thesaurus Working Group in Spring 2003, but also includes findings from earlier surveys. We will invite respondents to update their entries every six months, so that the survey remains up-to-date.

Records Management Compliance Healthcheck (1032.2 KB)
File Name: EDRM_Health_Check.pdf
Description: The Health Check is targeted at organisations like yours with an existing or planned programme of document management and workflow implementation, seeking to bridge the gap between where you currently stand in terms of document and records management, and where you need to be in order to achieve full compliance - but in a pragmatic manner, without putting at risk your existing operational targets or 'business as usual'.

Regulatory Compliance Planning Guide v1.0 (605.7 KB)
File Name: Regulatory Compliance Planning Guide.doc
Description:

The Regulatory Compliance Planning Guide published by Microsoft is designed to help IT professionals and other people who are interested in regulatory compliance in a number of ways.

The guide:

• Introduces a more efficient way to address the regulatory requirements of your IT organization.
• Outlines the leading thinking in regard to specific IT control requirements for a number of major regulations and standards.
• Demonstrates how currently available Microsoft software and guidance can help you to address immediate regulatory compliance issues for your organization.

Important This planning guide can only provide general advice. You should not rely exclusively on this guide for advice in addressing your regulatory requirements. For specific questions, consult your legal counsel or auditor.

? 2006 Microsoft Corporation

RM Policy Example Bath University (41.5 KB)
File Name: RM policy Bath.doc
Description: Example RM Policy from Bath University.

RM Policy Example HCC (35.8 KB)
File Name: Records management policy v 2.5.doc
Description: From Hertfordshire County Council

RM Policy Example Westminster City Council (28.2 KB)
File Name: Westminster City Council RM policy.doc
Description: Example RM policy for Westminster City Council

RMS Draft Guidlines for performing an Information Audit (79.2 KB)
File Name: RMS Information Audit Guidelines PreDRAFT.pdf
Description: Further guidance on conducting information audits from the Records Management Society Local Government Group. Note that these are in draft.

RMS Guidlines on Retention for Local Authorities (312.8 KB)
File Name: RMS Retention Guidelines For Local Authorithies.pdf
Description: The attached document, created by the Records Management Society Local Government Group, provides detailed guidance on retention.

The changing face of records (103.6 KB)
File Name: e-Records 2004 v2.pdf
Description: In central and local government; in the financial sector; in manufacturing and in industrial environments; the concept of accurate and reliable records is fundamental to the conduct of that activity. In a paper-based economy, little distinction was drawn between documents and records: the use of folders, staples, locked filing cabinets and similar naturally gave the necessary context that distinguished a transient document from a vital record. And in many cases, disposal is not an issue: the paper is simply kept until the ravages of time render it unreadable.

The Local Government Category List (431.6 KB)
File Name: lgcl.pdf
Description: The Local Government Category List provides a subject based list for all activities by local government, and is an excellent base for classification.

A full list of available controlled lists is available at: www.esd.org.uk/standards/

The Lord Chancellor Codes of Practice part 1 under the FOI (59 KB)
File Name: codepafunc.pdf
Description: This Code of Practice, issued under Section 45, sets out the practices which public authorities should follow when dealing with requests for information. It also includes a section on freedom of information and public sector contracts.

It was laid before Parliament on 20 November 2002, as required by section 45(5) of the Act. Much of the Code will not be applicable until January 2005, when the Act's general right of access provisions come into force, but issuing the Code early enables public authorities to see what is expected of them and develop internal guidance and training material accordingly.

The Code will be reviewed, and amended if necessary, in the light of developing secondary legislation and guidance, before January 2005.

The Lord Chancellor Codes of Practice part 2 under the FOI (53.7 KB)
File Name: codemanrec.pdf
Description: This Code of Practice, issued under Section 46, gives guidance on good practice in records management to all authorities subject to either the Freedom of Information Act, or the Public Records Act 1958 or the Public Records Act (Northern Ireland) 1923.

It also, in Part II, gives guidance on the review and transfer of public records to the public record offices and to places of deposit for public records. It was laid before Parliament on 20 November 2002, as required by section 46(6) of the Act.

The Code will not be generally applicable until January 2005 but issuing it early enables authorities to see what is expected of them and develop their records management accordingly. The Code will be reviewed, and amended if necessary, within five years of its issue.

The MoReq Specification (MS Word) (1016.8 KB)
File Name: MoReqSpecification.doc
Description: This specification describes Model Requirements for the Management of Electronic Record (MoReq). It focuses mainly on the functional requirements for the management of electronic records by an Electronic Records Management System (ERMS).

This specification is written to be equally applicable to public and private sector organisations which wish to introduce ERMS, or which wish to assess the ERMS capability they currently have in place.

While the specification focuses on functional requirements, it recognises that non-functional attributes are central to the success of an ERMS, as with any information system. However, these non-functional attributes vary enormously between environments. Accordingly, they are identified but described only in outline.

The MoReq Specification (PDF Format) (1155.3 KB)
File Name: MoReqSpecification.pdf
Description: This specification describes Model Requirements for the Management of Electronic Record (MoReq). It focuses mainly on the functional requirements for the management of electronic records by an Electronic Records Management System (ERMS).

This specification is written to be equally applicable to public and private sector organisations which wish to introduce ERMS, or which wish to assess the ERMS capability they currently have in place.

While the specification focuses on functional requirements, it recognises that non-functional attributes are central to the success of an ERMS, as with any information system. However, these non-functional attributes vary enormously between environments. Accordingly, they are identified but described only in outline.

The MoReq Specification (ZIP Format) (244 KB)
File Name: MoReqSpecification.zip
Description: This specification describes Model Requirements for the Management of Electronic Record (MoReq). It focuses mainly on the functional requirements for the management of electronic records by an Electronic Records Management System (ERMS).

This specification is written to be equally applicable to public and private sector organisations which wish to introduce ERMS, or which wish to assess the ERMS capability they currently have in place.

While the specification focuses on functional requirements, it recognises that non-functional attributes are central to the success of an ERMS, as with any information system. However, these non-functional attributes vary enormously between environments. Accordingly, they are identified but described only in outline.

The Records Management: NHS Code of practice. Part 1 (227.7 KB)
File Name: 270422-1 (Part1).pdf
Description: The Records Management: NHS Code of Practice is a guide to the required standards of practice in the management of records for those who work within or under contract to NHS organisations in England. It is based on current legal requirements and professional best practice.

This code of practice replaces::
* HSC 1999/053 - For the record
* HSC 1998/217 - Preservation, retention and destruction of GP general medical services records relating to patients (replacement for FHSL (94)(30))
* HSC 1998/153 - Using electronic patient records in hospitals: Legal requirements and good practice

The code provides a key component of information governance arrangements for the NHS. This is an evolving document because standards and practice covered by the code will change over time. It will therefore be subject to regular review and updated as necessary.

The guidelines contained in this code of practice apply to NHS records of all types (including records of NHS patients treated on behalf of the NHS in the private healthcare sector) regardless of the media on which they are held.

Related Document: The Records Management: NHS Code of practice. Part 2

The Records Management: NHS Code of practice. Part 2 (291.3 KB)
File Name: 270422-2 (Part2).pdf
Description: The Records Management: NHS Code of Practice is a guide to the required standards of practice in the management of records for those who work within or under contract to NHS organisations in England. It is based on current legal requirements and professional best practice.

This code of practice replaces::
* HSC 1999/053 - For the record
* HSC 1998/217 - Preservation, retention and destruction of GP general medical services records relating to patients (replacement for FHSL (94)(30))
* HSC 1998/153 - Using electronic patient records in hospitals: Legal requirements and good practice

The code provides a key component of information governance arrangements for the NHS. This is an evolving document because standards and practice covered by the code will change over time. It will therefore be subject to regular review and updated as necessary.

The guidelines contained in this code of practice apply to NHS records of all types (including records of NHS patients treated on behalf of the NHS in the private healthcare sector) regardless of the media on which they are held.

Related Document: The Records Management: NHS Code of practice. Part 1

The Role of Corporate Information Management in a Council Strategy (57.1 KB)
File Name: Council Strategy Paper v2.pdf
Description:

The Government IT Strategy remarks that corporate services and infrastructure are seen as the Cinderella resulting in the public sector being significantly behind the private sector in efficiency and effectiveness. Information management can be seen as the Cinderella within ICT departments.

Information is probably the second most valuable asset in a Council after its staff. Too often this asset is managed by individuals or departments in their own silos. The ability to to deliver more efficient services will be constrained until the importance of information as an asset is recognised.

This paper examine these issues.

The role of Information in Enterprise Application Integration and Middleware (57 KB)
File Name: Middleware White Paper v2.pdf
Description: Delivering joined up services offers huge benefits to the citizen but will require authorities to make significant changes to become more flexible in the way they work. That flexibility will extend to the way that they manage information.
This paper discuss the issues and approach to implementation EAI, Middleware, anf the role of corporate information management.

The TNA Fileplan Guide (484 KB)
File Name: PRO_fileplan_guide.pdf
Description: Advice and guidance of developing a Business Clasification Scheme

This Paper assesses both International, European and country compliance legislation (350.6 KB)
File Name: Sony Compliance Europe v1 0.pdf
Description: In-Form Consult was awarded a contract by SONY to develop a European Compliance White Paper that assesses both International, European and country compliance legislation. The white paper identifies the demanding requirements of the legislation in both the public and private sector for cost effective and reliable storage for the long term management of business information. In-Form Consult partnered with leading Information Management experts across Europe including SERDA SA and Project Consult Gmbh and other national experts in producing the report.

TNA Functional Requirments for Case Management & Workflow (108.6 KB)
File Name: b4casemanagement_workflow_v10.pdf
Description: This lists requirements for an ERMS which handles casework, or case folders. The requirements it contains are relevant only where casework and/or workflow are business needs; in other situations they can be ignored. They include only requirements related to the records management functionality of a case management system; they are unlikely to suffice for the specification of a complete case management application.

Note: It is not intended to form a part of any future generic functional requirements testing by TNA.

TNA Guidance for Implementing EDRMS (110.7 KB)
File Name: TNA Implementation Guidance.pdf
Description: Guidance on successful implementation of electronic records management.

TNA Records Retention Policy (132.1 KB)
File Name: TNA Records Policy.pdf
Description: The attached document, created by the TNA, provides detailed guidance on retention.

UK TNA Requirements for ERM Systems Reference Document (Part 3) (409.4 KB)
File Name: 2002referencefinal.pdf
Description: This sets out the required system functionality that suppliers of EDRMS have to meet.

UK TNA Functional Requirement for ERMS (Part 1) (377.7 KB)
File Name: 2002requirementsfinal.pdf
Description: This sets out the required system functionality required by EDRM suppliers to meet TNA Approval

UK TNA Metadata Standards (Part 2) (281.2 KB)
File Name: 2002metadatafinal.pdf
Description: Sets out the implications for records management metadata in compliant systems. It has been agreed with the Office of the e-Envoy that this document will form the basis for an XML schema to support the exchange of records metadata and promote interoperability between ERMS and between ERMS and other systems.

Which IPSV? A guide to the versions and formats available (349.5 KB)
File Name: IPSVVersionsAndFormats.pdf
Description: The Integrated Public Sector Vocabulary (IPSV) is a controlled vocabulary, also known as an 'encoding scheme' for populating the Subject element of the e-Government Metadata Standard (e-GMS). It should be used with all the electronic resources produced in the UK public sector, so that citizens may access them more easily. IPSV complies with ISO 2788 and BS 8723, the International and British Standards for monolingual thesauri. The IPSV was developed with the backing of the ODPM (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) and the eGU (Cabinet Office e-Government Unit).

White Paper on Operational and Reputational Risk (74.8 KB)
File Name: White Paper on Operational and Reputational Risk v2.pdf
Description:

Risks in running organisations are managed by good procedures and practices. However there is a category of risk where by their very nature, they either cannot be easily legislated for, or they are so amorphous that an organisation simply overlooks them or they do not know how to identify them in the first place. For example; risks of an operation or working practice failing i.e. 'Operational Risk' or an event leading to bad publicity and the resulting loss of reputation i.e. 'Reputational Risk'. With these risks little legislation or regulation exists.

It is in this area of what are often referred to as soft risks that organisations are becoming increasingly aware of recognising that action is overdue. Many believe themselves to be resilient against the clearly defined hard risks but are now seeking help and support to understand, quantify and mitigate the soft risks they are vulnerable to.

This white paper aims to de-mystify soft risk and more importantly explain why every organisation needs a policy to provide a cost effective resilience against them.

Why Create an Information Asset Register (25.6 KB)
File Name: Why create an information asset register.doc
Description: An information asset register is a complete and current database of what is held to support business procedures and activities. This is especially useful for identifying the structured information that is held in computer systems.

You may find the following document useful. It describes why it is important but also provides you with an example of the information you should record and maintain for each of your information assets.

This document was created by The Local e-Government Standards Body using material from the Records Management society

WORM and Euro Law (203.5 KB)
File Name: WORM_and_Euro_Law.pdf
Description: In-Form Systems was awarded a contract by HP to undertake a European study to assess the potential evidentiary benefits of Write Once-Read Many ('WORM') Optical Disk storage for electronic records management. In-Form Systems partnered with Eversheds, a leading European legal firm in producing the report.

The study provides an assessment of the inherent characteristics of WORM to provide real weight for legal and regulatory demands for records stored on such media as opposed to other magnetic media. The study reviews the current and planned e-commerce related legislation and code of practice at a European Commission level, and for the United Kingdom, France, Holland and Germany.

- This white paper sets out the main findings;
- A presentation has been produced that summarises these findings