Documents (Hansard, 2 July 1990)

§ Mr. Fearn
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what criteria he uses when deciding which documents to pass on to the Public Record Office.

§ Mrs. Gillian Shephard
The Department complies with the guidelines issued by the Public Record Office on the selection of documents for permanent preservation. Decisions on which documents are transferred to the Public Record Office for this purpose are taken in consultation with PRO inspecting officers.

§ Mr. Fearn
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what systems he employs to classify log and otherwise record each document generated by his Department; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mrs. Gillian Shephard
The Department receives and generates many millions of documents in the course of its business, and it would be impracticable, and disproportionately costly, to record these individually. However, the vast majority are placed with related documents, on registered files in accordance with well-established registry practices.

§ Mr. Fearn
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of and how many documents in 1989 he estimates were(a) passed on to the Public Record Office intact, (b) passed on to the Public Record Office in censored form, (c) retained by his Department in full, (d) retained by his Department in part, (e) destroyed, (f) otherwise disposed of and (g) otherwise unaccounted for.

§ Mrs. Gillian Shephard
No document falls for selection and transfer to the Public Record Office until it is at least 30 years old. A document's suitability for permanent preservation under the terms of the Public Record Act will be reviewed during that period. The Act does not require statistics to be kept in the form requested and to do so would inevitably incur disproportionate cost. However, in order to comply with their duties under the Act, Departments are obliged to ensure that all documentary records are properly preserved with a view to possible transfer to the Public Record Office and eventual release to the public. The general criteria under which the Department may retain documents over 30 years old are set out in section 3(4) of the Public Records Act.