Document Retention and Storage Policy

Sir Thayne Forbes has made just nine recommendations, and he acknowledges the progress that the Ministry has made since 2004 to improve all aspects of the prisoner-handling system—from policy and doctrine to unit-level instructions and procedures as well as training and oversight—and to ensure it complies with domestic and international law. I accept all nine recommendations in principle. I have commissioned urgent work on their practical implications—in particular, we will need to ensure that they will not prevent the armed forces from carrying out vital tasks—and I will announce to the House my detailed conclusions as soon as I can.

Recommendation 1. This invited the Secretary of State to consider whether the MoD’s records management policy provides sufficient assurance that the Department can locate and disclose to the courts all relevant materials. Operational records are brought back to the UK at regular intervals throughout an operation, catalogued and archived. While the Public Records Act does not permit the Department to retain records for more than 20 years without application to the Lord Chancellor, this mechanism will be employed wherever the review of this material at the 15-year point indicates that this is necessary. Consequently, the Secretary of State is satisfied that the current records management policy adequately addresses the concerns in relation to the practices in 2004 that led the Chairman to make this recommendation.