HC Deb 01 April 1996 vol 275 cc14-5
30. Mr. Tony Banks

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what categories of records are not disclosed after 30 years. [21922]

The Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (Mr. Jonathan Evans)

The categories of records that are not disclosed after 30 years are set out in chapter 9 of the 1993 White Paper on open Government.

Mr. Banks

Perhaps the Minister would like to explain why that is so? Why are some records not released for up to 100 years? Why are we not allowed to know about such things as Edward VIII's Nazi past, Hess' flight to Britain in 1941 or Queen Victoria's sexual peccadilloes? How could we change the rules? Who decides that we are not to be given such information? Is it not a fact that this country does not need an Official Secrets Act but a Freedom of Information Act?

Mr. Evans

There is an Advisory Council on Public Records, which is chaired by the Master of the Rolls. The right hon. Member for Swansea, West (Mr. Williams), who is sitting beside the hon. Gentleman, is a member of the council. It gives advice on the records in question. However, the hon. Gentleman has previously complained about the suppression of papers relating to the forcible feeding of suffragettes. I have examined the files in relation to that matter; I was able to because they have been in the public domain since 1988.

Mr. Jacques Arnold

Are documents likely to be revealed in 1996 which will disclose the dirty, back-room deals done by the Labour Government, perhaps at the expense of the taxpayer and the national interest, to get the TUC to support their 1966 wage freeze?

Mr. Evans

Records remain in Departments for 30 years. Ordinarily, they are disclosed after the 30-year period has expired. If there is a request by a Department, the matter is considered by the advisory council. Previously, there was a 50-year restriction but it was subsequently reduced to 30 years.

Mr. Alan Williams

When I recently joined the council, I was surprised to find that, in addition to matters of considerable importance, many other matters remain state secrets because they are so unimportant. Is the Minister aware that the dark secrets of Government hospitality going back to 1906 are denied to the public on the ground that the Department regards them as being so unimportant that it cannot allocate staff to desensitise them?

Mr. Evans

I am aware of that point because the hon. Gentleman has met me to raise it. His real point is that it is a question of staff resources rather than of the suppression of information, which would feed the conspiratorial suspicions of the hon. Member for Newham, North-West (Mr. Banks).