Written question asked by John M Taylor (Conservative) on Wednesday, 2 March 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 8 March 2005. It was answered by Chris Leslie (Labour) on Tuesday, 8 March 2005 on behalf of the Department for Constitutional Affairs.

Dept for Constitutional Affairs

Question: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs, whether the Registrar General was permitted to retain the 1921 to 1971 decennial population censuses for England and Wales during the period 1997 to 2004 in his Department for renewable periods of 10 years.

Answer: Mr. John Taylor: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether the Registrar General was permitted to retain the 1921 to 1971 decennial population censuses for England and Wales during the period 1997 to 2004 in his Department for renewable periods of 10 years. [220594] Mr. Leslie: Decennial population censuses for the period from 1921 to 1971 are approved for retention in the responsible department under section 3(4) of the Public Records Act 1958. The Lord Chancellor's Retention Instrument number 38 (signed in 1996) approves retention of the 1921 and 1951 censuses. The Lord Chancellor's Retention Instrument number 63 (signed in 2001) approves retention of the 1961 and 1971 censuses. There are no surviving decennial population census records for 1931 and no census was taken in 1941.

Secondary information