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Following is a question by the Hon Lee Wing-tat and a written reply by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Rafael Hui, at the Legislative Council meeting today (April 18):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of requests from members of the public for accessing government records or archival records in the past three years, as well as the number of such requests rejected;
(b) whether there is any stipulation on the minimum retention period for government records; if so, of the length of that period;
(c) whether there is any stipulation that confidential documents of the Government (including those of the Executive Council) shall be made available for public inspection after being sealed and stored up for certain number of years;
(d) whether the Government Records Service has ever given up records worthy of retention for reason of space limitation when it considers whether to retain government records or archival records; and
(e) whether it has considered setting up a large government records office at the site of the Central Government Offices upon the relocation of government departments there, for storing more records for public inspection?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) "Archival records" generally means documents and materials preserved because of their continuing or permanent values. The number of requests from members of the public for access to archival records and the number of rejected cases in the past three years are as follows:
Year Archival records
No. of requests No. of rejected cases
for access or cases in which
access to part of
the records was
granted*
2004 711 3
2005 1,418 6
2006 1,327 9
* Most of these cases involved records kept for less than thirty years.
In addition, the number of requests to Government bureaux and departments for access to information under the Code on Access to Information and the number of rejected cases in the past three years are as follows:
Year Government records
No. of requests No. of rejected cases
for access
2004 2,010 61
2005 2,294 40
2006 2,383 47
(b) The retention and destruction of government records is determined according to practical needs, taking into account administrative, operational, financial and legal requirements, as well as the archival value of the records. Different retention periods will be drawn up for different categories of records. For example, records relating to unsuccessful applications for recruitment exercises will be retained for one year; routine records on building management three years; policy records on purchase, management and maintenance of government vehicles five years; accounting documents seven years; and records appraised to have archival value permanently.
(c) In general, public access will be granted to archival records containing open information and those containing classified information which have been closed for thirty years. Classified archival records containing sensitive information such as those relating to defence, security and external affairs will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
(d)&(e) The Hong Kong Public Records Building in Kwun Tong is a purpose-built archival facility. It is constructed and equipped to meet international standards for the preservation of records that hold archival value. The public areas include a large working reference room, an exhibition hall and a search room. At present, the building has spare capacity for archival records.
The Government Records Service also operates two records centres for storing government records not in active use. The Government Records Service will make optimal use of the existing capacity of the centres and it is not necessary to consider setting up a large government records office in Central.
Ends/Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Issued at HKT 14:19
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