Records management

Bradford Council is committed to managing all the records and information it is responsible for in a safe and secure manner.

What is a record?

Records are information of value that we keep for a specific purpose.

The ISO 15489-1:2001 defines records as "information created, received and maintained as evidence and information by an organisation or person, in pursuance of legal obligations or in the transaction of business"

Examples of records include customer information or client files, social care files, bank statements, annual accounts, minutes of official meetings, terms of reference, policies, CCTV recordings.

What is records management?

This is a practice devoted to the management of information throughout its lifecycle, from the time it is created until its eventual disposition or destruction.

This includes

• identifying records
• classifying records
• storing records and information securely
• tracking and organising our records
• destroying records when we should in line with legislation or good practice
• permanently preserving historical archives.

We are driven to keep records for

• legal requirements
• legitimate business interest
• institutional memory or knowledge management
• historical importance

You have a right to request sight of the information that we as a Council hold about you.

For more information, please visit our make a data protection request web page.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities, including Bradford Council.

For more information, please visit our Freedom of Information web page.

To find out more about discovering local history records please visit West Yorkshire Archive Service.