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Following is a question by the Hon Cyd Ho and a written reply by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Stephen Lam, in the Legislative Council today (December 21):
Question:
The programme records and administrative records in the Chief Executive (CE)'s Office of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (including those in CE(Designate)'s temporary office before the reunification) cover records of specific preparatory work leading to the handover of sovereignty of Hong Kong, as well as records of the operation of the highest decision-making body of the Government. In respect of the preservation of such important archival records, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective positions of the staff responsible for managing the records of the aforesaid CE's offices before July 1, 1997, during the first and second terms of CE (i.e. from July 1, 1997 to March 11, 2005), and since March 12, 2005; in addition, whether there has been any change in the designation of staff responsible for managing such records since the issuance of the General Circular on mandatory records management requirements by the Government in April 2009; if so, of the details;
(b) of the respective numbers and linear metres of the programme records and administrative records of CE(Designate)'s temporary office as at June 30, 1997; and the respective numbers and linear metres of the programme records and administrative records created by CE's Office in each of the years since July 1, 1997;
(c) whether CE(Designate)'s temporary office had, during its operation in 1997, and CE's Office has so far, transferred any record to the Government Records Service ("GRS"); if so, of the number and details of the records transferred each year (list by year the relevant details in the table below);
Programme Administrative
records records
Title of record
Date of creation of
record
Date of record closed
Date of transfer to GRS
Date of GRS's appraisal
of records for retention
or destruction
Date of destruction
(if applicable)
(d) among the aforesaid records, of the current storage location of the records which had been closed but were not transferred to GRS; of the room temperature and humidity of such location; whether the requirements for storage of archival records are met; if not, of the reasons for not transferring these records to GRS; and
(e) whether the authorities can undertake not to destroy any record in the aforesaid CE's Office (including those in CE(Designate)'s temporary office before the reunification) before enactment of an archival law?
Reply:
President,
Regarding the question raised by Hon Cyd Ho, our reply is as follows:
(a) Records of the Office of the Chief Executive (CE's Office) have been managed by the Departmental Secretary since its establishment in December 1996. There has been no change in the post responsible for managing such records since the issuance of the General Circular on records management in April 2009.
(b) As at June 30, 1997, there were a total of 73 programme records and 74 administrative records in CE's Office, and their respective linear metres were 3 and 3.1. From July 1, 1997 to December 14, 2011, CE's Office* has created 41 523 programme records (out of which about 36 000 were public complaint or enquiry cases) and 3 495 administrative records, and their respective linear metres were 403.9 and 255.3. We do not have readily available information on the number of records created each year.
(c) Records transferred from CE's Office to the Government Records Service (GRS) for retention and those approved for destruction are listed in Annex 1 and Annex 2 respectively.
(d) Closed records which have not been transferred to GRS are stored in the filing rooms of CE's Office. These rooms are air-conditioned with room temperature set at not higher than 25.5 degree Celsius and humidity at general office level, which meet the requirements for storage of records.
(e) According to Government records management requirements, any closed records can only be destroyed after the GRS Director has assessed that the records have no retention value and has given approval for their destruction. Closed records with archival value and which are no longer operationally required to be stored in the filing rooms will be transferred to GRS for permanent retention.
Note:
* Since 2002, the Executive Council Secretariat under the Office of the Chief Secretary for Administration has been put under the Office of the Chief Executive. The figures provided in this reply also include the records created by the Executive Council Secretariat from 1997 to 2002.
Ends/Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Issued at HKT 11:52
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