§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what percentage and how many documents in 1996 he estimates were(a) passed on to the Public Record Office intact, (b) passed on to the Public Record Office in censored form, (c) retained by his Department in full, (d) retained by his Department in part, (e) destroyed, (f) otherwise disposed of, and (g) otherwise unaccounted for. [2515]
§ Mr. Dewar[holding answer 11 June 1997]: The records of my Department are specifically exempted from the Public Records Act 1958, and therefore are not passed to the Public Records Office. However similar procedures apply to the transfer of records to the Scottish Record Office (SRO). The procedures oblige my Department to ensure that all documentary records are properly preserved with a view to possible selection and transfer to the SRO and eventual release to the public. Statistics relating to records retained and passed to the SRO are not available in the precise categories requested; however for 1996–97 the numbers of files by broad category are as follows:
Records processed: 54,131 Question Category Number Per cent. (a) Intact Records to Scottish Record Office 2,209 4.1 (b) Censored Records to Scottish Record Office 0 0 (c) Full Records retained by the Scottish Office 3,224 5.9 (d) Part Records retained by the Scottish Office 0 0 (e) Records destroyed by the Scottish Office 48,698 90 (f) Records otherwise disposed of 0 0 (g) Records unaccounted for 0 0