Written question asked by Norman Baker (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 5 July 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 11 July 2005. It was answered by Bridget Prentice (Labour) on Monday, 11 July 2005 on behalf of the Department for Constitutional Affairs.

National Archives

Question: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will bring forward legislation to make it an offence to place forged documents in the National Archives.

Answer: On 5 July the National Archives placed the following statement on its website:"““Reports in the press have questioned the authenticity of five documents within files FO 800/9868 and HS 8/944. The National Archives has taken these allegations extremely seriously. We commissioned an official forensic examination which has now concluded that these five documents are, indeed, forgeries. In the light of this, we are reviewing our own procedures and taking legal advice, with a view to taking further action.””"It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.

Secondary information