§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consultations he has had with the Railway Heritage Group about the preservation of early records of the railway system in the last five years. [16597]
§ Mr. WattsNone. Early records which have come to light in the last five years have been sent to either the Public Record Office, the Scottish Record Office or the National Railway Museum to add to their existing collections. If the records were not appropriate for these three national bodies, they were sent to one of the local record offices listed by British Rail's records advisory panel. In future, the new independent Railway Heritage Committee, under the chairmanship of Sir Gordon Higginson, will supervise the transfer of historic railway artifacts and records to the collecting institutions.