Government faces call to review ‘self-destruct’ email policy
This very interesting article makes me wonder where “serious” stops and where “trivial and ephemeral” starts. It tells us: The Government is facing calls to review a little-known policy under which Downing Street emails “self-destruct” after three months. Any messages which David Cameron’s aides fail to save and store are automatically deleted – a practice that campaigners claim is designed to thwart later freedom of information requests. The information watchdog raised concerns that senior civil servants may not have been warned by the Cabinet Office that their emails are wiped out so rapidly. Government sources defended the practice, insisting civil servants were given clear instructions on the retention of important information to avoid email systems getting clogged up with trivial and ephemeral messages.
I know how easy it is to save information with no inconvenience and I truly wonder how many important local issues have been excised from the prime ministers email archive?