Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 23 May 2023 to Question 185568 on Mining: Industrial Disputes, whether he plans to take steps to change the record keeping practices of his Department to help improve (a) accessibility and (b) preservation of historical documents.

The Cabinet Office is committed to complying with the Public Records Act 1958 and has released records to The National Archives (TNA) up to 2002.

Records listed on TNA’s online catalogue Discovery include details to reflect exemptions, if they have been applied, to closed or retained records. If paper files that are open at TNA contain minor redactions, details to reflect exemptions being applied are included on a Dummy Card, which replaces the closed or retained extracts within the record. A process is in place to re-review closed and retained records at the 10-year point or when the agreed closure or retention period is about to expire.

The most recent Information Management Assessment published by The National Archives (https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/cabinet-office-ima-reassessment-report.pdf) gave the Cabinet Office an assurance rating of Green. There are no plans to change the record keeping practices of the Department.