FAO Mr Jamie Halliday   My Ref: CC67437
   Your Ref:
    
    
   Date: 13/03/2026
   
Dear Mr Halliday

Subject: Freedom of Information – Children’s Social Care and Lifelong Learning (Education, Schools and
Inclusion)

I refer to your request for information made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 dated 10th
February 2026 and must apologise for the delay in providing this information to you.

In accordance with the Act, I confirm that Gateshead Council does hold and is able to provide some of
the information you have requested as outlined below:

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)

Answer - Please see the attached corporate retention policy for information.

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.

Answer - I have made efforts to find out whether Gateshead Council had a formal retention schedule
covering the period from 2010-2014 but have been unable to confirm whether there was one in place at
this time. It is possible that the Education Department were following the guidelines issued by the
Information Records Management Society (IRMS) in their Retention Guidelines for Schools. Please refer
to the following link for further details:
[1]https://site4.educationgateshead.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/SchoolsRetentionScheduleNov15v4.pdf

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

Answer - see attached retention policy for information.

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

Answer - There is no role for the Council to ensure that maintained schools comply with records
management as schools are their own data controller.

Please note:
The information provided in this response is available for re-use under the terms of the Open
Government Licence v3.0. The terms of the OGL can be found here:
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/.
When re-using the information, Gateshead Council requires you to include the following attribution
statement: “Contains public sector information obtained from Gateshead Council and licensed under the
Open Government Licence v3.0."

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you may apply to the Chief Legal Officer,
Legal and Democratic Services, Civic Centre, Regent Street, Gateshead, NE8 1HH, for an internal review
of the decision. This will be a fresh consideration of your request by a more senior officer. If you
wish to request a review you must do this in writing within 40 working days of receipt of this letter.

Following the internal review if you are still unhappy you have a right to complain to the Information
Commissioner as specified below:
Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
www.ico.org.uk/foicomplaints

Yours faithfully

  

 Education, Schools and Inclusion Gateshead
 Information Requests Team Council

 [2][email address] Floor 2, Civic
 Centre
  
 Regent Street
  
 GATESHEAD

 NE8 1HH

  

  

  

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References

 Visible links
 1. https://site4.educationgateshead.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/SchoolsRetentionScheduleNov15v4.pdf
 2. mailto:[email address]


