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LCQ2: Management of government records
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    Following is a question by the Hon Margaret Ng and a written reply by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Rafael Hui, in the Legislative Council today (October 25):


Question:

     From time to time, there were reports on incidents regarding the loss of government records or the failure of government departments to provide access to certain information upon request because it has not been documented or the records could not be located.  In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) given that many countries have enacted legislation to ensure that government activities and transactions are adequately and properly documented, that government records are properly managed and disposed of, that records of enduring value are selected for transfer to the archives, and that public access is provided for reasons of accountability and transparency, of the reasons for the absence of similar legislation in Hong Kong;

(b) whether there is any official definition of "archival records", and whether it is the same as "public records" as defined in the laws of Hong Kong;

(c) given that the Public Records Act of the United Kingdom has a long history, the Mainland authorities enacted an archival law in 1987 and Macao also has such a legislation, whether it has considered enacting an archival law or plans to do so; if so, of the relevant timetable; and

(d) as there is no archival law in Hong Kong, how the Government ensures proper management of its active, inactive and archival records in terms of:

(i) the number of government records created in each of the past seven years;

(ii) the number of government records appraised for destruction in each of the past seven years;

(iii) the number and major types of government records identified as archival records in each of the past seven years;

(iv) the current respective numbers of these records in the Government and the management programmes applied to them;

(v) the mechanism and arrangement for identifying government records as archival records;

(vi) the places and means by which archival records are preserved; and

(vii) the places where and the means through which the public can access open or closed archival records;

(viii) the persons who decide on the preservation of and the granting of public access to archival records;

(ix) the mechanism for ensuring archival records are properly identified and preserved in the archives even when government bureaux or
departments may refuse to have their records appraised or transferred to the archives;

(x) the mechanism for appeal when members of the public are denied access to archival records; and

(xi) the resources, in terms of funding and personnel (number of government officers, their professional qualifications, ranking and area of expertise), made available annually for managing active, inactive and archival records?


Reply:

Madam President,

Need for legislation (Parts (a) and (c) of question)
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     The Government Records Service (GRS) is tasked to oversee the management of government records on a government-wide basis.  GRS has promulgated records management procedures and guidelines to ensure proper management of government records and provides records management training and advice to help bureaux and departments improve their records management.  In line with the administrative framework set by GRS on the creation, use, disposal and preservation of and access to government records, bureaux and departments have appointed Departmental Records Managers to ensure that government records are properly managed and maintained.  

     GRS also operates central records centres to provide intermediate storage and disposal services of inactive government records, pending their final disposal (i.e., destruction or permanent retention).  Records appraised to have enduring value are transferred to the Public Records Office (PRO) of GRS as archival records for permanent preservation.  They will then be accessioned, i.e. classified, arranged, catalogued and described, and finally made available for public access.  

     Access to archival records kept by GRS is managed through the Public Records (Access) Rules 1996.  Separately, access to government records kept by any government bureau or department is provided through the Code on Access to Information, also administrative in nature.  Whilst there is no archives or records legislation in Hong Kong, the present system is functioning effectively and we will continue to improve on it.  We do not consider archival legislation a priority item for the Government.

Definitions (Part (b))
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     "Archival records" generally means documents and materials preserved because of their continuing or permanent value.  The Public Records Office of GRS, as the designated government archive, identifies and preserves records of enduring value and makes them available for public use over time.

     "Public Records" is a more generic term and the meaning depends on the context used.  For records management purposes, "public records" means records from legislative, judicial or executive transactions transferred to or acquired by PRO of GRS.  

Records created and managed throughout the Government (Parts (d)(i) and (iv))
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     As bureaux and departments manage their own active and inactive records, GRS does not collate statistics on the number of records created each year and the number of active and inactive records throughout the Government.

Records appraised for destruction or preservation as archival records (Parts (d)(ii) and (iii))
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    All records proposed by bureaux and departments for destruction have to be vetted by GRS.  The quantity of government records appraised for destruction and as archival records in the past seven years is as follows -

Year    Records appraised     Records appraised
        for destruction       as archival records
        (in linear meters)    (in linear meters)

2000        23,113                    550
2001        20,013                    650
2002        68,209                    384
2003        53,633                    413
2004        32,253                    383
2005        29,748                    233
2006        23,951                    357
  (up to end September)

     The archival records are mainly records from bureaux, departments and the judiciary. Major transferring agencies include policy bureaux, Architectural Services Department, Judiciary, Companies Registry, Social Welfare Department and Buildings Department.

Preservation of archival records (Parts (d)(v), (vi), (viii) and (ix))
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     As explained, bureaux and departments are required to seek the prior consent of the GRS Director for any destruction of their inactive records.  In the process, if the Archivist in GRS considers the records as having enduring value, he will arrange for such to be kept permanently in specially-fitted repositories inside the Hong Kong Public Records Building, a purpose-built archive providing a secure controlled environment for the protection of archival materials.  In addition, procedures like fumigation and microfilming will be adopted where appropriate to preserve the archival records.

     Other than the purpose-built archives, GRS also operates two central records centres, which allow bureaux and departments to transfer their inactive records to GRS for storage pending final disposal.  Together with the originating bureaux or departments, GRS will determine, after an agreed retention period, whether the stored records should be destroyed or transferred to the PRO as archives.   It is also possible for bureaux and departments to transfer records of archival value to the PRO direct.

     Bureaux and departments are generally very co-operative and the storage and vetting services performed by GRS are well-received.
 
Access to archival records (Parts (d)(vii), (viii) and (x))
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     Public records kept by GRS are available for inspection including "closed records" which may be inspected with permission from the GRS Director.  The public may visit the Hong Kong Public Records Building in Kwun Tong to inspect records and other materials available for access.  They may also visit GRS website for convenient and remote access to the on-line catalogue of PRO's holdings and some digitised holdings, such as photographs and posters.  We are not aware of complaints relating to denial of access to closed records.  In any event, a person aggrieved may seek a review of the decision through the Director of Administration, the record-originating government bureau or other open means.

Resources (Part (d)(xi))
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     As bureaux and departments manage their active records and inactive records, GRS does not have ready information on the resources made available annually for managing these records throughout the Government.

     For GRS, a provision of $29.3 million has been allocated for 2006-07 for formulating and implementing polices and plans for records management and archives administration on a government-wide basis.  GRS is headed by an officer at the Directorate Pay Scale point D1 with the support of 87 staff.  26 of them are involved in archives administration (comprising one Archivist, two Senior Assistant Archivists, two Assistant Archivists and 21 supporting staff), 51 are involved in records management and the operation of the central records centres (comprising one Chief Executive Officer, two Senior Executive Officers, three Executive Officers I, one Executive Officer II, two Senior Assistant Archivists, two Assistant Archivists and 40 supporting staff), and 10 are for internal administration.  

     The entry qualification for Assistant Archivist (entry rank for the Archivist grade) requires a bachelor's degree in history, political science or public administration plus two years' post-graduate research, study or training in these subjects.  The entry qualification for Executive Officer II (entry rank for the Executive grade) requires a bachelor's degree.

Ends/Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:34

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