AS-1 Response Accepted AI-assessed

Document Retention and Storage Policy

Recommendation

Consideration should be given to the establishment of a policy by the Ministry of Defence to ensure that all documents or other material, including electronic material, are retrieved from theatre and elsewhere at the conclusion of an operation, catalogued and stored in secure accommodation for a period of at least 30 years and all searches of that material recorded, so that the Department is able to say what material is available and its location, and if the need arises, to confirm in litigation or to a Public Inquiry that it has complied with its obligation to disclose relevant material.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
The Ministry of Defence accepted this recommendation in principle on 17 December 2014. However, no specific published evidence of the establishment of a policy for document retention and storage, including retrieval, cataloguing, and secure storage for 30 years, has been identified since the government's response. The most recent evidence of commitment is over 11 years old.
How was this assessed?
Assessed by gemini-2.5-flash on 18 Mar 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
External sources searched: www.gov.uk, hansard.parliament.uk, www.legislation.gov.uk
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Accepted
Accepted Ministry of Defence
17 Dec 2014

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.

Read Full Response
Note: Government responded with a single Hansard statement (17 Dec 2014) accepting all 9 recs. No per-recommendation implementation report was published. JDP 1-10 Fourth Edition (Sept 2020) states it incorporates Al Sweady recs but no individual delivery confirmation exists. Statuses regraded from completed to unclear (Mar 2026) due to absence of specific implementation evidence.
Source
Inquiry Al-Sweady Inquiry
Report The Report of the Al-Sweady Inquiry 17 Dec 2014
View Source
Responsible Bodies
Ministry of Defence Primary
Themes & Tags
Corporate data issues Weak Government Accountability & Scrutiny Document Retention Records Management Disclosure Operations
Recommendation age 11.3 yrs
Last formal update 4115 days ago