Renfrewshire Council

Renfrewshire Council's records are essential for the Council to function and for staff to carry out their jobs. Records provide information for decision making and evidence of the Council's activities.

The Council also has a statutory requirement to "make proper provision for the preservation and management" of its records; to be publicly accountable for and able to justify its decisions and actions; and to enable compliance with the requirements of the Public Records (Scotland) Act, 2011, the Data Protection Act 1998, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

The Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011 places an obligation on the Council to prepare and implement a records management plan (RMP) which sets out efficient arrangements for the management of the Council's records.

An effective records management system is essential to ensure records are created and captured, managed and disposed in an organised manner, maintaining their integrity and authenticity.

Records have to be retrievable - easily and quickly. (Requests for information under Data Protection or Freedom of Information legislation are governed by statutory response times that would be difficult to comply with if relevant information is not easily identified and retrieved quickly).

Key documents relating to how the Council manages its records can be found under the "Related documents" section to the right.