§ Mr. George HowarthTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many categories of record the Public Record Office hold; and if she will list the numbers held in each category. [33294]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe Public Record Office is charged with the selection, preservation and provision of public access to records created by Government bodies. The categorisation of the records is based on the Department of state or other Government body that created them. There are currently 353 categories.
No statistics are held of the number of records in each category and it would not be possible to obtain them without incurring disproportionate cost.
The PRO catalogue, which is accessible on-line through the PRO's website at www.pro.gov.uk, lists over 9 million separate pieces. A piece can be a single document or a file or a volume. The catalogue can be searched in a variety of ways from simple keyword to advanced Boolean.