Disposal of Diaries and Notebooks

SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER

This chapter contains the procedure for transferring notes written in diaries and notebooks onto the council's recording system and for disposing safely of information which was written in notebooks and diaries.

This guidance was added to the Procedures Manual in January 2015.

1. Introduction

Confidential or work related notes written in an employee diary or notebook are not considered to be Council records and should always be transferred to an appropriate Council record keeping system as soon as possible.

2. Procedure

Children's Services Department employees are responsible for ensuring that any confidential or work related notes that they have recorded in a diary/notebook are:

  • Kept secure at all times e.g. not left on unattended desks and are locked away in a secure location when not in use;
  • Transferred to an appropriate Council record keeping system as soon as possible e.g. Mosaic, Tribal PSS, Profile etc;
  • Within three months of being completed, treated as confidential waste i.e. destroyed securely and safely after checking all relevant information has been transferred to an appropriate Council record keeping system.

As a guide:

  • Notebooks should be destroyed within three months of being completed i.e. when they are full;
  • Diaries should be retained for first three months of the following year and then destroyed.

The Children's Services Department Data Protection (DP) & Freedom of Information (FOI) Officer will remind all employees in the department of their responsibility to destroy completed diaries and notebooks on a regular basis via the Children's Services Team Brief.

All currently completed diaries/notebooks held in offsite storage or elsewhere should be destroyed as soon as possible unless there is a specific reason for keeping them, agreed by an Head of Service\ Locality Manager, which should be recorded on an appropriate Council record keeping system.

3. References

Corporate Records Management Policy:
See 'Related Documents' section for Council Records Management Policy.

Standard Operating Procedure in Children's Services Department Retention Schedule:
See 'Children's Services Department Retention Schedule'.