§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason the request by the Advisory Council on Public Records to be allowed to consider the conditions under which MI5 records are released was refused; and if he will make a statement. [28630]
§ Mr. Blunkett[holding answer 22 January 2002]: In July 1998, my right hon. Friend the then Home Secretary, invited the Advisory Council on Public records to review the criteria employed by the Security Service to select files for permanent preservation on grounds of historical interest. During the course of the review the chairman of the Council, Lord Justice Woolf, wrote to the Home Secretary to ask whether he wished to extend the terms of reference to encompass issues relating to access to Security Service records.
The intelligence services and the Interception Commissioners and Investigatory Powers Tribunal have full access to all service records necessary for then-functions and therefore the Home Secretary replied that 936W he was not contemplating changing the arrangements to widen access beyond this "need to know" approach. This was recognised in Lord Justice Woolf s report. However, the Home Secretary did agree that officials of the Public Records Office, with the necessary security clearance, should be invited by the Security Service to examine files earmarked for destruction after review by the service. This now happens.
The Advisory Council reported in December 1998 and the report was placed in Library on 3 February 1999. At the same time the then Home Secretary announced that he was accepting in full the recommendations of the committee. All of these have now been implemented.