UK's 30-year rule should be halved, inquiry finds.

• Position: GOVERNMENT RECORDS - Brief article

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...