Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what is the department’s record keeping policy in relation to the retention of (a) responses to consultations and calls for evidence and (b) summaries of responses to them.

The department retains information from public consultations/calls for evidence only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the relevant business need and statutory requirements. The department's standard retention period for public consultation responses is two years from the consultation closing date, although this is a guideline rather than a fixed requirement, and the final retention period is determined on a case-by-case basis.

Retention decisions must comply with data protection principles, including data minimisation and storage limitation, ensuring personal data is kept only for as long as necessary. For example, confidential or sensitive personal information may require a shorter retention period and may be deleted or anonymised once analysis is complete.

The applicable retention period for personal information is normally set out in the published consultation documentation.

Similarly decisions on retention of summaries of responses will be determined on a case-by-case basis in line with the departmental retention policy. Retention decisions are made by officials responsible for the consultation/call for evidence in consultation with the department’s records management and data protection teams.

Government responses to consultations are published in line with Government Consultation Principles Guidance Consultation principles: guidance - GOV.UK . The Government does not routinely publish details of individual respondents to calls for evidence.