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[holding answer 16 April 2012]: E-mails held in mailboxes provided to Ministers, officials and special advisers as part of their official duties are subject to a capacity limit of 1 gigabyte.During their time in post, it is the sender's responsibility to ensure that e-mails containing information that relates to official business, and which need to be kept for the record, are saved into the appropriate corporate repository. E-mails from third parties are to be captured into the appropriate corporate repository by the lead policy recipient. This is to ensure context and a comprehensive audit trial are maintained. If captured in the corporate repository, the retention period will be determined by the nature of the business to which they relate. For example, e-mails relating to policy formation and government spending may be stored as part of the historical record and will be considered for long-term at the National Archives. On the other hand, e-mails relating to corporate governance matters, such as human resources, are retained in accordance with the relevant legislation and regulations which apply to the activity in question (eg recruitment), including the Data Protection Act 1998.All personal mailboxes and drives provided to all personnel carrying out work on behalf of HM Treasury are deleted 10 working days after the individual leaves the Department. For disaster recovery purposes the Department requires its IT provider to keep a 12 month rolling back-up of all e-mails.The Treasury's records management policy is available online at:"http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/about_record_mngmnt_pol. htm#What_is_the_Treasurys_policy_on_personal_ mailboxes_ and_drives" |