§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement about the operation of her Department's sensitive documents unit; how many staff are employed in its operation; and approximately how many documents per annum come within its purview.
§ Mr. SackvilleThe Department of Health does not operate a sensitive documents unit. All documents raised 193W within the Department are public records under the terms of the Public Record Acts 1958 and 1967, and have varying degrees of sensitivity.
The Department has a departmental records officer who is responsible for systems for the control of all documents from the time of their creation to final disposal.
In the course of the Department's business, hundreds of thousands of records come within the departmental records officer's purview each year.