§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will make an assessment of the effects of privatising the Public Records Office; and if she will make a statement. [100391]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe Public Record Office was subject to a Quinquennial Review in 1997–98, which concluded that its core functions in relation to its oversight of records management in other government departments and its custody of historical public records can only be carried out from within government. Quinquennial Reviews have now been replaced by other business improvement processes in Government.
The PRO will be joining up with the Historical Manuscripts Commission to form the National Archives on 1 April 2003, and the new organisation will strive to offer services which offer even better value for money than those provided separately by the two organisations.