§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the policy of MI5 is in respect of release of its post-1945 records to the Public Record Office. [30665]
§ Mr. Blunkett[holding answer 29 January 2002]: The Security Service systematically reviews and where appropriate releases historical records to the Public Record Office in accordance with the criteria agreed with them and endorsed by the Advisory Council.
The Security Service has reviewed and released all archived files covering the first world war. Moving on to the second world war, the second phase in its release programme, the service released in November 2001 its fourth tranche of files on the period up to the end of that war. The service is reviewing its inter-war records in preparation for further releases. It will then move on to the period after the second world war. The timing of this depends on the resources that the service is able to devote to the process.