§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his oral answer of 27 April to the right hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Ashdown),Official Report, column 978, what steps he has taken to establish whether the papers sold by the Churchill family to the national heritage memorial fund were at any time covered by the provisions of the Official Secrets Acts. [22423]
§ The Prime MinisterChurchill college has been advised on which papers in the Churchill archive can be released to researchers and which need to be withheld.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Prime Minister what steps the Government took to purchase the annotated eight-page typescript of Sir Winston Churchill's E1 Alamein speech sold by Sotheby's in December 1994; and whether this is included in the Churchill documents purchased by the national heritage memorial fund. [22421]
§ The Prime MinisterThe manuscript to which the hon. Member refers was sold by a private owner and was one of many which Sir Winston Churchill gave away during his lifetime. At no time did it form part of the Churchill archive and it does not do so now. It is for the national institutions which maintain archives to decide whether to commit funds to the purchase of papers which appear on the open market.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Prime Minister how many of the papers sold by the Churchill family to the national heritage memorial fund are to be found in the Public Record Office in their original or a duplicate form; and what copyright fees have to be paid to the Churchill family when such documents in either location are reproduced. [22525]
§ The Prime MinisterThe papers purchased by the national heritage memorial fund are the non-state papers. They are not normally to be found in the Public Record Office in either original or duplicate form. Copyright in the papers purchased by the national heritage memorial fund is a matter for the copyright owners.
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§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Prime Minister whether he will request the trustees of the national lottery fund to hand back the Churchill papers to the family in return for the money they have received. [22419]
§ The Prime MinisterNo. The integrity of the Churchill archive has now been secured for the nation by the purchase of the non-state papers from the Churchill family and by the transfer of the state papers similarly to Churchill college.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Prime Minister if he will make it his policy to reduce the fees charged for access to and reproduction of the Churchill papers; and if he will publish the proposed scale of charges. [22420]
§ The Prime MinisterNo fees are levied on access to the Churchill papers at Churchill college. Reproduction is a matter for the copyright owners as is the question of charges. A licence has been granted which waives the copyright fee in respect of the reproduction of Crown copyright material for the purposes of research and private study. Other charges, for example the commercial use of the papers, will be levied in accordance with normal practice.