Dear Sir/Madam,

Please treat this as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

This request concerns records retention and disposal arrangements for education records, especially pupil files, SEND, exclusions, and education otherwise than at school (EOTAS), including home tuition and alternative provision.

1. Retention schedule entries and retention periods
Please provide the recorded retention schedule entries (or equivalent documented retention rules) used by the council for the following categories, including the retention period and the trigger point (for example, DOB plus X years, closure of case, end of academic year, end of financial year):

a) maintained school pupil file / educational record
b) records held by the local authority relating to an individual pupil’s education
c) exclusion records (fixed-term and permanent), including panel or decision paperwork
d) SEND records held by the local authority (assessments, notes, decisions, panel minutes, plans)
e) EOTAS / home tuition / alternative provision records, including placement decisions and commissioning referrals
f) education finance and commissioning records relating to alternative provision or tuition (purchase orders, invoices, provider contracts, budget monitoring)

2. Version in force 2010 to 2014
If your retention schedule has changed since 2010, please provide either:
a) the version that was in force between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2014 for the categories above, or
b) a change log that clearly states what changed and when, for those categories.

3. Disposal process and audit trail
Please provide the council’s recorded procedure or policy for secure disposal of education records in scope of section 1, including:
a) who authorises disposal
b) what audit trail is kept (for example, destruction logs, certificates)
c) whether third-party shredding or disposal contractors are used, and how compliance is evidenced

4. Maintained schools, oversight and information rights
Please provide any recorded information or guidance the council uses that explains:
a) what education records are held by the council versus held by maintained schools
b) the council’s role in ensuring maintained schools comply with records retention expectations and information rights requests, including SARs and Educational Record requests

Format
Please provide the information electronically.

If any information is withheld, please cite the specific exemption(s) relied upon and explain why they apply.

Yours faithfully,

Jamie Halliday