Mr. Harveyasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he will state the regulations observed at the Public Record Office with regard to the disposal, by destruction or otherwise, of records which are of insufficient value to justify their preservation?
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§ Lieut.-Colonel ColvilleDocuments not considered of sufficient public value to justify their preservation in the Public Record Office are scheduled by Inspecting Officers appointed under Rules made by the Master of the Rolls and approved by Order in Council (Public Record Office Act, 40 and 41 Victoria, cap. 55). The schedules, having been signed by the Inspecting Officers and a representative of the department concerned and approved by the Master of the Rolls and the head of the department, lie before both Houses of Parliament for four weeks and are then operative. Destruction is effected by the Stationery Office.
An Additional Rule dated 15th January, 1936, provides for the disposal of scheduled documents to the Government of any part of His Majesty's Dominions or to the curators, trustees or other governors of a library in any part of His Majesty's Dominions or, in the case of income accounts of Trustees, by transfer or return thereof to such Trustees or their Successors. In practice, schedules approved since the war have with few exceptions dealt with documents accruing in departments and not with documents already transferred to the Public Record Office.