HL Deb 20 March 2002 vol 632 cc141-2WA
Lord Lester of Herne Hill

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Lord Rooker on 27 February (WA246), what are the criteria agreed with the Security Service for the release of historical documents to the Public Record Office; and which of these criteria would justify the continuing withholding of public access to the MI5 records relating to Nazi war crimes already released into the public domain in the United States under the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act 1998. [HL3113]

Lord Rooker

In a reply on 3 February 1999 in the other place, the then Home Secretary, Jack Straw, accepted in full the recommendations in the report to him onThe Review of Security Service Selection Criteria by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf, as chairman and on behalf of the Advisory Council on Public Records. The Home Secretary also placed a copy of that report in their Library. For the convenience of the Members of this House, I have arranged for a copy of that report to be put in our Library.

The criteria for extended closure of records is set out in full in the Public Record Office publication Access to Public Records, Second Edition, September 2000. This publication is available via the Internet at the address: http://www.pro.gov.uk/recordsmanagement/ access/Access2.htm. I understand that the Security Service did not open files on war criminals as such, as its concern was with Nazi espionage, sabotage, subversion and the like. At the end of the Second World War, the service shared with the United States authorities the reports of its interrogations of German intelligence officers and agents. Most of these reports, and their associated records, have been released to the Public Record Office. Only a few of these records also related to war crimes and all of those so far found have been released. Within the limits of its resources, the service has helped those with a particular interest in history to review specific records selected for release. The noble Lord may wish to write to the service giving details of the records he has in mind.