3 January 2019
The Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011 (the Act) has been in operation for 5 years. The Keeper of the Records of Scotland (the Keeper) considers it is therefore time to review the Model Plan and the Guidance Document published to help public authorities comply with the Act.
To assist with this the Keeper convened a Stakeholder Forum consisting of information specialists invited from various sectors to consider the Model Pan and decide what modifications, if any, might be appropriate. The Forum met three times between July and October 2018. The deliberations of the Forum were published to facilitate and encourage remote participation: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/record-keeping/public-records-scotland-act-2011/latest-developments/model-plan-review-2018
The Forum considered that some textual changes were required to clarify what each element of the Model Plan asks for, supported by the addition of best practice guidance under each element. This is reflected in the revised Plan. Furthermore, the revised Plan promotes our data protection obligations more obviously throughout the text and in relation to each element. Stakeholders were particularly keen that the revised Plan should include explicit reference to public records created by third parties under contract to a named public authority. This has been accommodated by adding a new element to the Plan.
The Model Plan is statutory guidance required to be developed and published by the Keeper under the Act. S8(2) of the Act requires him to consult authorities and other persons he considers appropriate and have regard to their views in response to this consultation. He has therefore published the revised Model Plan for formal consultation. This can be accessed by clicking on the following link: https://consult.gov.scot/national-records-of-scotland/revised-model-records-management-plan/
The consultation will close at 17:00 on Thursday 7th March.
The Keeper encourages all those with an interest in the Model Plan to participate in the consultation and record their views on the amendments being proposed