UK's 30-year rule should be halved, inquiry finds.(GOVERNMENT RECORDS)

A recent inquiry has recommended that the United Kingdom's 30-year rule, which dictates when government records of cabinet minutes and private memos are released to the public, should be cut to 15 years.

The independent inquiry also found that the government and Whitehall have a long way to go in understanding how the digital revolution affects recordkeeping, The Guardian UK reported.

The panel's review suggests that government phase in a new 15-year rule over a period of 15 years and apply it retroactively to all documents. It also calls for:

* An independent review of the Radcliffe rules on the publication of memoirs by former ministers, civil servants, and special advisers to overhaul and update them

* An update of the civil service code to help ensure civil servants keep full, accurate, and impartial records of government business

* Special advisers, as temporary civil servants, be made aware of their duty to keep a full record of their non-political activities, which will be archived and released the same as any other official documents

In his report, Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail and head of the inquiry, said the Freedom of Information Act had been implemented in a "somewhat unsatisfactory, patchwork fashion." He also said the perception of secrecy in government was fueling "public cynicism." Dacre also said the panel's suggested reforms would bring about a "more mature democracy," the Guardian UK reported.

The government must now decide whether to act on the panel's recommendations.

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