HC Deb 30 March 1999 vol 328 cc612-4W
Mr. John M. Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what are the total annual storage and maintenance costs for all 1841 to 1991 decennial census returns in Scotland. [78435]

Mr. McLeish

Annual costs of storage and maintenance of all the 1841 to 1991 decennial census returns for Scotland are estimated at £75,000.

From 1 July 1999, this will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament.

Mr. John M. Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list all Public Records Act 1958 instruments that have prescribed periods of(a) extended retention or (b) extended closure of decennial census returns for Scotland; and if he will list the class numbers, census years and periods mentioned in the schedules. [78443]

Mr. McLeish

The legislation referred to does not apply to Scotland. Scottish census records remain in the custody of the originating department, the General Register Office for Scotland, and under the control of the Registrar General for Scotland.

The present position in Scotland is that the census returns up to and including those of 1891 are open to public inspection. The Registrar General's policy on census returns for 1901 or later years was agreed in 1974 by the then Secretary of State for Scotland and announced in Parliament on 23 May 1974, Official Report, columns 272–73. This confirmed that Scottish census returns would not be made available until 100 years after the census to which they relate, and that only in exceptional circumstances could closed census returns be accessed. These public access provisions were affirmed by the present Government in the 2001 Census White Paper published on 4 March. The circumstances are: where application is made to the Registrar General for specific information to be supplied from records of a closed census, taken on or before 1931; and where this application is made for the specific purpose of assisting an individual to resolve a question of his or her legal inheritance.

The closure period is intended to safeguard the confidentiality of the personal information collected in the census, and successive Governments have honoured an undertaking that the information would remain confidential. Protection of the credibility of the undertaking is crucial to maintaining the quality of the information collected.

From 1 July 1999, this will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament.