Dear Mr Maxwell

APPLICATION UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA)

I refer to your request dated 6 August 2008 for information, under the FOIA. Please accept my apologies for the delay in replying which was due to the fact that your request was misdirected within the Department.

You requested the following:

“HMRC/internal policy covering data retention and storage periods for the following items:

i) Email server logs (for email sent both internally and received

from external sources).

ii) Email archiving or permanent email storage (for email sent both

internally and received from external sources). This is to be

understood as any server or centralised storage or retention

mechanisms and not the end-users "account".

iii) Telephone call logs.

iv) Telephone recording archives.

From information published on the old HM Customs website, these policies do exist, however I do not know their name or have an exact reference to these documents. The essence of the information sought is: a) how long email logs have to be kept, b) do the actual emails have to be permanently archived and for how long, c) are telephony logs kept and for how long (either just the log of the call or actual content as well).

If there are different policies covering different regions or offices, then attention should be paid to HMRC Bathgate Contact Centre, HMRC Cumbernauld and Clarendon House in Edinburgh.”

As you may know, s.1(1) of the FOIA provides two rights to those who make requests for information. These are:

(a) the right to be informed in writing by the public authority whether or not it holds the
information sought in the request; and
(b) if so, the right to have that information communicated.

These rights are subject to a number of exemptions and cost consideration.

Turning to your request:

I can provide the information for parts (i) and (ii). I am waiting on information from other areas of the Department to answer parts (iii) and (iv) which is being dealt with under reference FOI 1844/08. I will aim to provide you with a response as quickly as I can.

(i) Exchange message tracking logs are kept for 30 days. This tracks all messages routed through the Exchange infrastructure and holds information such as sender, recipient, subject and routed times.

MailMarshal text logs which track all emails are held for 5 days.

MailMarshal logs are kept for 30 days. These track all messages routed through the MailMarshal infrastructure and holds information such as sender, recipient, subject and routed times.

(ii) Message tracking logs are also backed up on a regular schedule and have a 56 day retention period.

There is no permanent email archiving or storage solution for HMRC as such. The entire exchange estate is subject to a 56 day retention period, which includes individuals' mail as well as message tracking logs.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder. Most documents supplied by HMRC will have been produced by government officials and will be Crown Copyright. You can find details on the arrangements for re-using Crown Copyright on HMS Online (internet access required) at: http://www.hmso.gov.uk/copyright/licences/click-use-home.htm

Information you receive which is not subject to Crown Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. You must ensure that you gain their permission before reproducing any third party (non Crown Copyright) information.

If you are not happy with this reply you may request a review by writing to HMRC FOI Team, Room 4/52, 100 Parliament Street London SWIA 2BQ. You must request a review within 2 months of the date of this letter. It would assist our review if you set out which aspects of the reply concern you and why you are dissatisfied.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by HMRC. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please remember to quote the reference number above on any future communications.

Yours sincerely

Eileen Tully

HM Revenue and Customs

Information Management Services

Freedom of Information Manager