Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what her Department’s process is for (a) recording and (b) keeping minutes of all meetings relating to Government business.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Formal, structured meetings are usually minuted, however, not all meetings need to be minuted.
The Cabinet Office expects that the general guidance that departments give to their staff will help officials make judgements as to what meetings need to be minuted, noting their Civil Service Code obligation to ‘keep accurate official records.’ The retention policy of the Attorney General’s Office is that records of all diaries, calendars, gifts/hospitality, Invitations, outgoing correspondence and information on visits and speeches will be held for 5 years.
Specific procedures are in place for external meetings involving ministers. These are publicly available and can be found in the Guidance on the management of Private Office Papers.