***********************************
Following is a question by the Hon Miriam Lau Kin-yee and a written reply by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Henry Tang, in the Legislative Council today (July 13):
Question:
With a view to improving the administrative arrangements for management of public records, the Government introduced a set of mandatory records management requirements (the requirements) in April 2009 for compliance by policy bureaux and government departments (B/Ds). However, criticisms from the public remain that this is insufficient to ensure that government records are properly managed and disposed of. There are still calls from the community for introduction of an archival law or public records law in Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether the Government Records Service (GRS) has carried out records audits to ensure compliance with the requirements; if it has, of the details of such audits conducted in the past two years; if not, the reasons for that;
(b) whether GRS can make it mandatory for B/Ds to make all their records available for appraisal and transfer to the archives; if not, what mechanism is at present in place to ensure that B/Ds do not withhold their records from GRS; whether B/Ds are required to maintain and comply with a record disposal schedule;
(c) whether the present public records management system requires the submission of policy records to GRS from the following public offices: Office of the Chief Executive, Chief Secretary for Administration's Office, Financial Secretary's Office, the Central Policy Unit, Invest Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Independent Commission Against Corruption; if not, of the reasons for that;
(d) in view of the relocation of the offices at the Central Government Offices to Tamar in September this year, what measures will be taken to ensure that government records will not be misplaced or disposed of improperly during the removal process; whether an inventory of all the record series will be taken to identify which records will be moved, as well as which records will be otherwise dealt with, etc.;
(e) in respect of the records kept by B/Ds, of the percentages of those in electronic form, and those in paper format; what mechanism is in place to ensure that these electronic records will not be manipulated or deleted improperly; and
(f) given that there is an absence of an archival law or public records law to underpin the present public records management system, can the Government give an undertaking that no government record will be destroyed until proper appraisal has been conducted by GRS or other qualified archivists?
Reply:
President,
(a) As one of the mandatory records management requirements promulgated in April 2009, bureaux and departments (B/Ds) are required to review their records management practices regularly so as to assess their compliance with such requirements and to identify and implement improvements. To assist B/Ds in this task, the Government Records Service (GRS) has formulated a review form and initiated the first review in the second half of 2010 which has yet to be completed.
(b) and (c) To ensure systematic planning and orderly implementation of records disposal after records have been kept for the appropriate duration, B/Ds are required to adopt records disposal schedules developed by GRS to dispose of their administrative records. For programme records, B/Ds are required to develop, in consultation with GRS, disposal schedules which stipulate the length of time that records should be retained and the ways of disposal including transfer of records having archival value to GRS for permanent preservation. As a rule, GRS will conduct records appraisal and identify records having archival value at the time when disposal schedules are established or at the end of their retention period. To strengthen the arrangements in this regard, the mandatory records management requirements require that B/Ds should transfer their records having archival value to GRS according to the respective disposal schedules and should dispose of their time-expired records at least once every two years. As an additional safeguard, B/Ds must obtain the prior agreement of the GRS Director before they destroy any government records. This and the aforesaid arrangements will ensure that records are appraised and those having historical value are identified and transferred to GRS.
Same as other B/Ds, the present public records management system, notably the arrangements for records disposal and identification by GRS and transfer to GRS of government records with historical value, also applies to the Chief Executive's Office, Chief Secretary for Administration's Office, Financial Secretary's Office, Central Policy Unit, Invest Hong Kong and Hong Kong Monetary Authority. In the case of ICAC, the department has established its own guidelines (including records retention and approval authority for records destruction) on managing its records based on the Government's records management policy. Such guidelines comply with the relevant legislation (including ICAC Ordinance (Cap 204), Interception of Communications and Surveillance Ordinance (Cap 589) and Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap 486)).
(d) As with other relocation exercises, bureaux and offices (B/Os) which will move to the new Central Government Offices (CGO) at Tamar are required to put in place appropriate arrangements to ensure the safe custody of records and to safeguard against loss of records during relocation of their records to the new CGO. To assist the B/Os concerned in this task, GRS briefed the relevant B/Os in April 2010 on issues such as the mandatory records management requirements. Guidelines on bulk relocation of government records have also been issued to the concerned B/Os in 2011 providing detailed advice on the procedures they should adopt for the relocation exercise. Specifically, B/Os have been reminded to update their record inventory prior to the relocation, ensure that their records are properly handled and under safe custody before, during and after the relocation, and seek GRS Director's prior agreement before they destroy any records. GRS will continue to give advice to the B/Os concerned as necessary in this regard.
(e) We do not maintain statistics on the percentage of government records kept in electronic and paper forms in B/Ds.
In May 2011, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) promulgated the government electronic information management (EIM) strategy and EIM Framework for B/Ds to develop their EIM strategies, including the adoption of an electronic recordkeeping system (ERKS) as a mandatory component. In this connection, action is being taken to provide appropriate support to B/Ds to help them develop their organisational EIM strategies.
Pending the full implementation of ERKS in the Government, B/Ds are required to convert e-mail records into printed form for management and storage and put in place appropriate arrangements to ensure proper custody and storage of these printed e-mail records in the same way applicable to paper records. As mentioned above, B/Ds are required to obtain the GRS Director's prior agreement for destruction of records irrespective of formats.
(f) As an ongoing effort, the Government reviews and improves on the arrangements for records management from time to time. We introduced in April 2009 a set of mandatory records management requirements for compliance by all B/Ds through the issue of a General Circular. These requirements cover the key records management functions including proper management of e-mail records, records classification, records disposal (including establishment of disposal schedules and transfer of records having archival value to GRS), proper custody and storage of records, and protection of vital records. Coupled with the requirement for B/Ds to seek GRS Director's prior agreement before they destroy any records, the present public records management system should ensure that no government record will be destroyed until proper appraisal by GRS. The mandatory records management requirements apply to all government servants and disciplinary proceedings may be taken against a government servant if he disobeys, neglects or fails to observe the requirements.
Ends/Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Issued at HKT 15:14
NNNN