§ Mr. Barry FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will authorise the Hydrographer's department to reproduce old charts, pilots and fleet review anchor plans for sale to the general public.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonThe hydrographic office already makes photocopies of old charts and documents available to researchers and other individual inquirers for specific purposes. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence informed the House on 18 October at column155 that the hydrographic office is planned to become a defence support agency from 1 April 1990.I hope that, as such an agency, the office would more easily pursue commercially viable opportunities for wider sales of reproductions of the historic collections in its archives.