Record of searches for RTI/IP Application ref [insert]
Date	Time taken	Name and position of officer	Business unit	Locations searched	Description of searches conducted/action taken	Result of searches	Comments/reasons why not located
E.g. 02/12/12	90 minutes	John Smith	Records Officer	Email system	Key word search of email system	120 pages (see attached)

All staff involved in the searching of documents are to accurately record relevant details and time spent in completing the task. This information will be used by the decision maker in making an assessment of any charges. It may also be relied upon during any review relating to the application (for example, charges being payable or the adequacy of the agency’s searches if documents are non-existent or unlocatable).

Explanatory notes

Explain which locations were searched, why they were searched and the manner in which they were searched, including the search terms used in any electronic searches. For example:

TRIM (i.e. the electronic document management system) was searched three times using the search terms ‘Mary Smith’, ‘100 Brown Street’ and ‘noise complaints’.

The hard copy files for 100 Brown Street (3 lever arch folders) were searched and each document on those files was considered.

The filing cabinet and desk drawers of the Complaints Officer who dealt with the complaint were searched.

Indicate whether the requested document/s were found as a result of the search. If the requested document/s are located, please advise whether you consider the information in each document may be exempt (if so, please provide contextual information that may impact the release of the document) or whether a third party may need to be consulted before release of the document. If the requested document/s are not located, please provide reasons i.e. either the document/s do not exist or cannot be located (choose one). If a document does not exist, please provide an explanation. For example, ‘the requested document was not created because the noise complaint was received verbally and no file note of the conversation was created’ or ‘the requested document was destroyed on 12/05/05 in accordance with the Document Retention and Disposal Authority. If a document should exist but cannot be located, please provide an explanation of all steps taken to locate the document.

If documents should be in a certain location but are not located, advise which document/s were expected to be located and provide a description of the steps taken to locate any documents believed to be missing. If you believe the document may be held in another business unit/ location, please advise where.