EV-0244 — Welsh Government ATISN 26-0010 disclosure response: retention schedules; no files found (19 Oct 2026)
| EV ID | EV-0244 |
|---|---|
| Title | Welsh Government ATISN 26-0010 disclosure response: retention and destruction schedules; searches under the farm name, Western Ground Rents Ltd and BP Properties Ltd |
| Date of document | 19 October 2026 (emailed 10:25 BST) |
| Type | email/FOI reply (letter attached as PDF, 2 pages) |
| Evidence label | PRIMARY DOCUMENT HELD |
| Repository / reference | Welsh Government, Operational Effectiveness Group; ref ATISN 26-0010; signed by the Departmental Records Officer. Wiki catalogue reference GHF-E106-R56-A1. |
| Status | HELD — open the letter (PDF, Wayback archive). Public copy: the requester’s personal email address is redacted; nothing else is changed. |
| Provenance | Attachment “ATISN 26-0010 – Disclosure.pdf” to the Welsh Government email of 19 Oct 2026 in Sion Buckler’s Gmail (read-only export, 19 Oct 2026). The covering email is M71 on the Cadw / Welsh Government correspondence page. |
| Related evidence | EV-0156 (ATISN 27021 response) · EV-0178 (Wales Office, 26FOI 103) · EV-0245 (Cadw ATISN 27589, same day) |
| Wiki catalogue page | FOI & Public-Authority Reply Register, GHF-E106-R56 |
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Quotation (verbatim): “Searches were carried out to find files mentioning the farm name and the companies listed in your request. No files were found and given the date range of your request, any routine records would have been destroyed in line with the corporate retention schedule applied at the time.” … “Given the date range for the search, it is equally possible that records relating to this would not have been transferred to Welsh Government and disposition would have been carried out by a predecessor body.”
Also stated (verbatim): “Material with historical significance from this period would have been identified using the Welsh Office’s Operational Selection Policy (available on TNA’s website: OSP 7 – Welsh Office 1979-1997).” “Records relating to Welsh Government property/deeds/leasing etc. are not transferred to TNA as they are not classed as “public records” like our business records are. These would be retained until the property is sold or lease agreements terminated.”
Review route: “If you are dissatisfied with the Welsh Government’s handling of your request, you can ask for an internal review within 40 working days of the date of this response.” Forty working days from 19 Oct 2026 is 14 Dec 2026 (computed, not stated in the letter). Address given: Freedom.ofinformation@gov.wales, quoting ATISN 26-0010.
Lead: The letter points to (1) the published Welsh Government retention and disposal schedules, (2) the Welsh Office’s own pre-1997 schedules, (3) TNA’s OSP 7 (Welsh Office 1979–1997), and (4) property, deeds and lease records, which it says are kept until a property is sold or a lease ends. Whether any Welsh Office or Welsh Government property interest touched the farm: SOURCE PENDING.
Cuts against: The Welsh Government reports a search under the farm name and both company names with no files found. That is a dated negative result for its own holdings.
Proves: On 19 Oct 2026 the Welsh Government’s Departmental Records Officer stated that searches for the farm name, Western Ground Rents Ltd and BP Properties Ltd found no files, and set out its position on retention, transfer to TNA and property records.
Does not prove: That such files never existed, or when, how or by whom any were destroyed. The letter says routine records “would have been” destroyed, or may have been disposed of by a predecessor body; it cites no destruction record for any file.