§ Mr. Newensasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will give the total number of people who used local authority record offices for the last year for which figures are available and the equivalent figure five years previously;
(2) how many local authority record offices have now introduced fees for access to their archives; and what information is available to him on the effects on the total number of people using these offices.
§ Mr. KingI am aware that three local authorities have introduced charges for access to archives at local record offices in the past year. It is possible that others have done so. My Department does not collect information about the numbers of people using local record offices.