Written question asked by Lord Hanningfield (Conservative), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Baroness Ashton of Upholland (Labour) on Tuesday, 7 November 2006.

Official Documents: Twelvetrees Crescent Warehouse

Question: What files were lost by the Crown Estate in the fire at the paper records warehouse in Twelvetrees Crescent, London, in July; what impact these losses will have on the Crown Estate; whether any work or projects will be delayed or abandoned asa result of the fire; and what costs were incurred.

Answer: The Crown Estate had 220 boxes of legal documents stored at Iron Mountain, of which 65 were destroyed in the fire. This amounted to around 7,300 documents ranging in date from 1968 to 2005. The documents were leases, deeds, conveyances, licences and the like, some expired and some current. The immediate impact has been low to date, since the documents have not so far been required. A small pilot study has been undertaken to retrieve copies of some of the documents from other sources, mainly the Crown Estate's own back-up files, and copies of all documents in the pilot were retrieved. No current work or projects will be delayed or abandoned as a result of the fire. To date, the actual costs incurred are legal costs in obtaining advice on the Crown Estate's potential claim against Iron Mountain and the time and management costs of the Crown Estate's personnel in retrieving copies of documents in the pilot retrieval exercise and any photocopying expenses.

Secondary information