data retention policy

Question

we have just discovered that when a councillor leaves or wishes to change the password on his email account or the clerk changes the password or the service providor all emails and documents are wiped . the clerk has also confirmed that they can not be recovered
the clerk also has no data retention policy and refuses to back up files to the cloud
this seems highly dangerous to me as 6 years is the normal minimum retenetion period for litigation our next local parish council has a retention policy  any thoughts would be appreciated
also clerk had a foi request iin march that she has not responded to key points i assume information commissioner is first port of call on this but any other thoughts

Answer 1

Retention of emails relating to general correspondence are usually held for 3 months. However, emails relating to the following legal purposes must be retained longer:

Contracts: 6 years

Defamation: 1 year

Leases: 12 years

Negligence (and other ‘Torts’): 6 years

Personal injury: 3 years

Rent: 6 years

Sums recoverable by statute: 6 years

To recover land: 12 years

Before submitting a FOI complaint to the ICO, have you requested an internal review concerning the missing information? The ICO expects requesters to submit an internal review before raising a complaint.

You may also find this ICO guidance helpful:

Fact sheet for councils: the use of personal email addresses and devices

Answer 2

The Council should have a published Data Retention Policy that the Clerk should  follow, it should be something the Internal Auditor should be checking on

With regards to FOI surely whoever made the request has already referred this to the ICO ?
Also you’d expect the Councillors to be aware of this problem

Comments

i very much appreciate your help on this it feels sometimes that parish council or at least some of them live in a paralel universe where rules are selective