Public Record Office (Hansard, 5 May 1999)

§ Mr. Yeo
To ask the Minister of State, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list(a) the storage space occupied by the enumerators' books for the 1921–1971 decennial censuses for England and (b) the estimated cost of micro-filming each of these censuses at current prices. [83308]

§ Mr. Hoon
(a) The storage space occupied by the enumerators' books for the 1921–1971 decennial censuses for England and Wales is 662 linear metres. It is not possible to provide a separate figure for England. (b) It 421W would not be possible to estimate the cost of micro-filming each of these censuses at current prices without incurring disproportionate cost.

§ Mr. Yeo
To ask the Minister of State, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list those hon. Members who, since September 1998 have communicated with the Lord Chancellor's Department about the 1921, 1951 and 1961 census returns and have been informed by the Public Record Office that access to these census returns is covered by the Census Act 1920, as amended by the Census (Confidentiality) Act 1991. [83309]

§ Mr. Hoon
Since September 1998, the Lord Chancellor's Department and the Public Record Office have corresponded with the following hon. Members concerning public access to the 1921, 1951 and 1961 census returns and informed them that access to these census returns is covered by the Census Act 1920, as amended by Census (Confidentiality) Act 1991: the right hon. Member for North-West Cambridgeshire (Sir B. Mawhinney), my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesterfield (Mr. Benn), the right hon. Member for Skipton and Ripon (Mr. Curry), the right hon. and learned Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Mr. Hogg), the hon. Member for South Suffolk (Mr. Yeo), and the hon. Member for Solihull (Mr. J. M. Taylor).

§ Mr. Yeo
To ask the Minister of State, Lord Chancellor's Department how many linear metres of storage space at the Public Record Office are now(a) occupied by records and (b) vacant. [83307]

§ Mr. Hoon
At the Public Record Office, Kew(a) 153,300 linear metres of storage space are occupied by records and (b) 29,100 linear metres are vacant.