§ 40. Mr. BakerTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will make a statement on the availability of public records relating to the security services. [37657]
§ Mr. HoonIn 1992, the then Lord Chancellor, following consultation with the Ministers concerned, renewed the approval to retain the records of the security and intelligence agencies and the retention of related departmental records until the end of 2011.
This approval to retain the records is not mandatory, it is permissive. All the agencies have programmes in place to review related records held by other government departments and these are released to the Public Record 568W Office wherever possible. In addition, the Security Service and GCHQ are reviewing their own older records and releasing them to the PRO whenever such release is possible without compromising operational effectiveness. In the case of the Secret Intelligence Service, I refer the hon. Member to the answer he received from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 12 February 1998, Official Report, column 324.