§ Mr. CarmichaelTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to his answer of 18 December 2003,Official Report, column 1112W, on the 1911 Census, for what reasons the 1921, 1951 and 1961 census records for England and Wales are listed in Public Records Act Instruments No. 5, No. 23 and No. 38; and whether those census records are closed to public inspection solely under the provisions of Public Records Act Instrument No.12. [154025]
§ Mr. LeslieUnder S.3 (4) of the Public Records Act 1958, public records are usually transferred to the National Archives or an approved place of deposit not later than 30 years after their creation. However, they may be retained in departments if they are required for administrative purposes or another special reason. In these cases departments have to obtain the approval of the Lord Chancellor, after he has received the views of his Advisory Council on National Records and Archives. The present position is that Lord Chancellor's Instruments numbers 38 (1996) and 63 (2001) sanction the retention of the 1921, 1951 and 1961 census records by the Office for National Statistics for administrative purposes.
Lord Chancellor's Instrument number 12 (1966) gives effect to the closure period of 100 years, which applies to decennial census returns.
1669W
§ Mr. CarmichaelTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to his answer of 18 December 2003,Official Report, column 1112W, on the 1911 Census, how many applications were approved in each year from 1999 to 2003, under the provisions of section 5 (1) of the Public Records Act 1958, to reduce previously determined periods of closure on departmental records. [153979]
§ Mr. LeslieUnder section 5(1) of the Public Records Act 1958 the following number of applications to reduce previously determined periods of closure on departmental records were approved:
Applications 1999 157 2000 84 2001 75 2002 161 2003 175