§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on how many occasions in each of the last four conveniently available periods of six months the Public Records Office has asked his Department to return a file selected for preservation in the Public Records Office to which public access has been granted under the Public Records Act 1958, as amended, but which has temporarily been withdrawn by the Department for official purposes; in how many cases he has agreed to the request; in how many he has refused, either outright or deferred the return; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe system which controls the movements of files withdrawn from the Public Record Office for use within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is designed to minimise paperwork and does not provide for detailed analysis of such movements, for which my Department has no internal requirement. Records are returned promptly to the Public Record Office once they are no longer needed.