§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what is the date and title of the oldest document in the possession of the Government which has not been released in whole or in part as a public document. [3416]
§ Mr. HoonThree items containing information from 1873 are the oldest public records still closed to public inspection. They are Office of Land Revenue Records and Enrolments: Enrolments by Books: Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works and Buildings and Successors: Purchases, 1873–1910; Office of Land Revenue Records and Enrolments: Enrolments by Books, Board of Trade and Successors, 1873–1928; and Office of Land Revenue Records and Enrolments: Enrolments by Deposit, Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues and Successors: Schedule of Rents and Arrears Discharged, 1873–1902. These records are closed for 100 years on grounds of continuing commercial sensitivity, the closure period being calculated from the last date of each item.
§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will estimate how many files containing documentation wholly or mainly dating from before 1900 have not been released as public documents(a) in part and (b) as a whole. [3415]
§ Mr. HoonTwenty-seven volumes of boxes of Enrolled Deposited Leases, and associated documents, of the Office of Land Revenue Records and Enrolments, which date partly or wholly from before 1900, are closed in the Public Record Office for 100 years, on grounds of continuing commercial sensitivity.
§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the titles of the files containing documentation wholly or mainly dating from before 1900 where part or all of the contents have not been released as public documents.[3414]
§ Mr. HoonThere are records in five classes of Enrolled and Deposited Leases, and associated documents, of the Office of Land Revenue records of enrolments, which fall into this category. The classes are Enrolments by Books, Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works and Buildings and Successors (LRRO 13); Enrolments by Books, Office of Works and Successors (LRRO 14); Enrolments by Books, Board of Trade and Successors (LRRO 15); Enrolments by Deposit: Office of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues and Successors (LRRO 16); and Enrolments by Deposit, Board of Trade (LRRO 17). The items in these classes are described simply by the range of years that they cover, apart from the Schedule of Rents and Arrears discharged, referred to in my earlier Answer.