Archiving policy
SEPA's current and historical records are mainly paper based.
When they are no longer in active use, they are generally kept in
offsite storage. SEPA also has increasing numbers of electronic
files and is moving towards cutting down on hard copies.
SEPA does not keep all information forever. Creating and
maintaining records takes a significant amount of time and
resources, so we try to only keep those records that help us do our
job. We have a comprehensive retention and disposal schedule that
sets out how long information must be retained. This will vary
depending on the kind of information and what role it plays in
fulfilling our responsibilities. A copy of the schedule is
available.
A number of laws and regulations also specify how long certain
records should be kept. We will observe those rules. Once
information no longer has to be kept, we will archive or dispose of
the information according to our retention and disposal
schedule.
Some information will have historical value, whether or not it
is of operational value, and we will transfer these records to the
National Archives of Scotland.