From the 20th October 2014 organizations in Scotland are required to charge customers a minimum of five pence for single-use carrier bags. Organizations are also required to manage information about carrier bags.
Organizations with the equivalent of 10 or more full-time employees must keep records containing the following information and present the information to a local authority on request within 28 days. The information includes:
o The number of single-use carrier bags supplied to customers.
o Price charged per bag.
o Total income derived from carrier bag charges.
o Costs incurred to inform customers about the charge, process the charges, managing information, training staff, making changes to relevant IT systems and processes to monitor compliance with the regulations.
o Total profit derived from the carrier bag charges.
Although organizations are not required to publish this information, the Scottish Government is encouraging organizations to make the information available to customers and participate in the Carrier Bag Commitment. Organizations signing up to the Carrier Bag Commitment agree to donate the net proceeds of the carrier bag charge to charity.
The carrier bag charge is an example of how changes in legislation in the business climate section of the business model trigger changes in the organization. The legislation requires organizations to change business processes to charge customers for the supply of a single-use carrier bag. Changing the business processes in an organization requires changes to information management processes to both implement the charge and to provide information to demonstrate compliance to the regulations. Changing processes in the organization triggers further changes in the organization to IT systems and business practices in order to manage information about carrier bags, supporting the complete information life cycle.
Business processes need to be introduced to capture and maintain the information required so that it is available if it is requested by a local authority. The first reporting year starts on the 20th October 2014 and the second reporting year starts on 7 April 2015. After this each reporting year will always start on the 7th April each year. The retention period for the information is three years beginning on the 31st May following the end of the reporting year.
Further Reading: the business model is discussed in Chapter 1 and organizational transformation is discussed in Part III.
Please use the following to reference this blog post in your own work:
Cox, S. A., (2014), ‘Managing Information About Carrier Bags’, 24 October 2014, http://www.managinginformation.org/managing-information-about-carrier-bags/, [Date accessed: dd:mm:yy]