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British Top Secret Papers Made Public - After every 30 years.
Posted By:peer On 11/18/2008

The National Archives - UK government records and information management ... Office of Public Sector Information OPSI sets standards and provides a ...

The Public Record Office in London is a vast national archive of documents from over 1,000 years of British history.

At the beginning of each year it publishes government papers which have been kept secret for the past 30 years - under the UK's "30 year rule".


But even after the New Year, some of the most sensitive documents will remain secret for several more decades - while others may never be fully revealed.

If a record is judged too sensitive by a government department then it can apply to "extend closure" until 40, 75 or even 100 years have passed.


Under wraps

This secrecy suggests there could be any number of buried files containing salacious secrets.

Sensational material that has been released this year includes:

  • The bizarre story of a cuban dancer recruited to spy on American and British troops during World War II
  • The tale of how a British traitor at Colditz passed secrets to the Germans
  • The 1928 intrigue when the Home Office tried to throw silent movie star Tallulah Bankhead out of the country for indulging in "indecent and unnatural practices" with Eton schoolboys.


But there was dismay earlier this year when a crucial box of papers relating to the abdication crisis in 1936 was held back by Oxford's Bodleian Library until 2037.

Bemused academics suggested the reason for this could have been because the documents might contain correspondence from the Queen Mother, the publication of which might have proved embarrassing for the Royal Family.

Maximum closure

The government can extend closure on records for several reasons, including the judgement that release could harm international relations or national security.

But Elizabeth Honer from the Public Record Office says that one of the main reason documents are given the maximum extended closure is because they relate personal details about people who are still alive.

Disclosure of such information might be a "breach of confidence" or cause "distress" or "endangerment".

"There are some records that perhaps relate to court cases where that material was not made available in open court, particularly if they were rape victims" she says.

"Those sort of things are deemed personally sensitive.

"If that individual were still alive there is no way we would release that information."

Keeping mum

If a government department does want to keep documents secret beyond 30 years, it has to explain why to the PRO.

According to Ms Honer, it is far from just a rubber-stamping process.

"It is a very rigorous," she said.

"I might say 'You say so-and-so might be personally distressed by this, but where's the evidence?

"Are they still alive? If it is relating to a figure in another country are they still prominent in politics? Are they still in power?'"

An application from a department must go before the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Council on Public Records - this too can also reject applications.

Freedom of information

This year Parliament passed the Freedom of Information Act which creates a statutory right for people to obtain internal documents held by public authorities.


Campaigners have criticised it as being far too weak in comparison to US legislation.

But once it comes in to force, expected to be April 2002, it may begin a significant process of change in Whithall's culture of secrecy.

Records will still be published as usual each January.

But the act allows any determined member of the public to apply for documents held by a public authority without having to wait 30 years.

If the authority refuses to release documents, the applicant will be able to take the case to an information commissioner.

But ultimately, power still rests with the government which will have the final say in the form of a minisiterial veto.

Thanks: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/uk_confidential/1081675.stm

Then National Archives:  The National Archives is at the heart of information policy - setting standards and supporting innovation in information and records management across the UK, and providing a practical framework of best practice for opening up and encouraging the re-use of public sector information.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/default.htm?source=about

 

 




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