Records Management in Government (Review)

Thursday 6th November 2014 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr Philip Hammond)]

As part of the Government’s response to the inadvertent release of sensitive records relating to the UK’s involvement in events in Amritsar in the summer of 1984, my predecessor, the right hon. Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr William Hague), announced that Sir Alex Allan would complete a review of the position across Government on the annual release of papers to The National Archives and the ability and readiness of Departments to meet the requirements of moving from a 30 to 20 year rule, including the processes for withholding information.

I have today placed a copy of Sir Alex’s report in the Library of the House. The report contains a number of recommendations relating to how Government should manage their records. We have accepted these recommendations in full.