§ Mr. Brothertonasked the Attorney-General how many Civil Service man-hours are spent each year in extracting staples, pins and paper clips from official documents which are destined for preservation in the Public Record Office and replacing them with brass staples; and what study has been made of utilising alternative methods for the storage of such documents, such as microfilm.
The Solicitor-GeneralThe information sought in the first part of my hon. Friend's question could be provided only at disproportionate cost. A study of conservation by means of microfilming formed part of the report of the Committee on Modern Public Records, which was published on 31 March 1981, (Cmnd. 8204), and is being considered.