§ 29. Mr. David Kidney (Stafford)What assistance is given by his Department to persons who cannot afford to pay the prescribed fees for the issue of public records. [56132]
§ The Minister of State, Lord Chancellor's Department (Mr. Geoffrey Hoon)There are no prescribed fees for the issue of public records; the records are made available free of charge at the Public Record Office. The only fees that are payable regarding public records are those prescribed by the Public Record Office (Fees) Regulations 1998 for the provision of copies of records and for other services that are offered by the Public Record Office.
§ Mr. KidneyI thank my hon. Friend for that answer. I refer him to birth certificates. Clearly, most people need to buy a full certificate at some time during their life and some people have difficulty in affording even the modest fee for such certificates. Therefore, I urge my hon. Friend to consider some formal scheme for exemption from such fees. Looking to the nearer future, will he think about using the internet more to make copies of documents available, where they will be directly accessible to more and more people?
§ Mr. HoonI am grateful to my hon. Friend for his suggestion. The Public Record Office is microfilming an increasing proportion of its most popular records. That will enable visitors to print out copies at a reduced cost and non-visitors will benefit from lower charges for prints from film. Increasingly records are available electronically in schools, libraries and in people's homes via the internet. I hope that that development will continue.