Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, if he will provide details of his Department’s process for recording and retaining minutes from meetings in respect of Government business.

Formal, structured meetings are usually minuted, however, not all meetings need to be minuted. It is expected that the general guidance that departments give to their staff will help officials make judgements as to what meetings need to be minuted, noting their Civil Service Code obligation to ‘keep accurate official records.’

Specific procedures are in place for external meetings involving ministers. These are publicly available and can be found in the Guidance on the management of Private Office Papers.