Sharp rise in Whitehall shredding

Thousands of Whitehall files have been shredded, with the new Freedom of Information Act only days away from coming into force.

Figures obtained by the Conservatives show the number of official documents being destroyed has risen dramatically in recent months.

Some Government departments, including the Department of Trade and Industry, have almost doubled the number of files and records destroyed.

After the 1 January deadline it will be a criminal offence for a civil servant to destroy files with the intention of preventing their disclosure.

In 1999-2000, 52,605 DTI files were destroyed but by 2003-04 the number of documents shredded had shot up to 97,020.

It also emerged the Ministry of Defence nearly doubled the number of files destroyed in the same period.

The sharpest rise was at the Department of Work and Pensions where 36,885 files were deleted last year - a massive increase from 15,524 four years ago.

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Julian Lewis demanded an investigation by Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas.

"It looks like there has been a bonfire of historical records," said Mr Lewis.