Information and Records Management Service (IRMS)
The Information and Records Management Service (IRMS) delivers innovative, practical policies and solutions to help Parliamentary staff manage information more easily to support their work.
The IRMS sits in the Parliamentary Archives, a shared service based in the House of Lords. We support the management and protection of parliamentary information, as well as maximising its potential as one of our most important assets. Our vision is that information management is embraced and valued by staff and delivers measurable benefits to both Houses.
We develop corporate information management policies for the House Administrations, covering business information and content regardless of format or where it is held. We support staff to put these policies into practice in their day-to-day work by providing advice, guidance and training. This work aligns to Parliament's Information and Data Strategy which recognises that both information and data are central to the work of Parliament.
Through our activities and collaborations with partner teams, we help the House Administrations to better manage, secure and re-use their information and meet statutory obligations.
Information Management Policy
The Information Management Policy provides the framework for managing parliamentary information, and is applicable to all staff of the administrations of the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Parliamentary Digital Service.
Members of Parliament are data controllers in their own right, and members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords (and their staff) are not subject to the Information Management Policy, except those who hold an official position within a House Administration (e.g. as a Chair of a Committee), but only in relation to the information that they create and use in carrying out that role.
Authorised Retention Disposal Policy (ARDP)
The Authorised Retention Disposal Policy (ARDP) is Parliament's information disposal policy. It provides mandatory instructions on when information should be destroyed or transferred to the Parliamentary Archives for permanent preservation.
The ARDP is split into 21 areas and some additional policy statements. Each area represents a function of Parliament. We refer to these functions as the Keyword 1s in Parliament’s Classification Scheme, which sets out how information is organised in Parliament.
Links to the ARDP and additional policy statements are on the right-hand side of this page.
Contact us
If you have a question regarding information management in Parliament, please contact us on 020 7219 3074 or e-mail archives@parliament.uk.
Questions about the holdings of the Parliamentary Archives should be directed to the Archives' enquiry team using the same contact details above.
Last updated December 2021
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