§ Mr. Gouldasked the Secretary of State for Employment on how many occasions in each of the last four conveniently available periods of six months the Public Record Office has asked his Department to return a file selected for preservation in the Public Record Office and to which public access has been granted under the Public Records Act 1958, as amended, but which has temporarily been withdrawn by the Department for official purposes; in how many cases he has agreed to the request; in how many cases he has refused, either outright or deferred the return; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Gummer[pursuant to his reply, 4 May 1984]The numbers of files returned to the Public Record Office (excluding files routinely returned for its annual stocktaking) are:
Returned by request Refused or deferred April September 1982 2 nil October 1982 to March 1983 nil nil April to September 1983 nil nil October 1983 to March 1984 2 nil