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Home Office

Answer

Mr. Livingstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reasons the Government refused the request by the Advisory Council on Public Records in 1998 to be allowed to consider the conditions under which M15 records are released; and if the Government will review that refusal. [89628] Mr. Straw: In July 1998, I invited the Advisory Council on Public Records to review the criteria employed by the Security Service to select files for permanent preservation on grounds of historical interest. The Advisory Council reported in December last year. I placed the report in the Library and announced the Government's response in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Reading, East (Jane Griffiths), 3 February 1999, Official Report, columns 619-20. During the course of the Advisory Council review, the Chairman of the Council wrote to me to ask whether I would be prepared to extend the terms of reference to encompass issues relating to access to Security Service records. I replied that I was not then contemplating changing the arrangements under which external access to Security Service personal files which had not been released to the Public Record Office (PRO) was strictly limited to the Commissioners and Tribunals acting in pursuit of their functions. That remains the position. I did, however, agree that officials of the PRO with the necessary security clearance should be invited to examine files earmarked for destruction following review by the Security Service.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

89628; 334 c538W

Session

1998-99

Subjects

Disclosure of information Intelligence services Public records MI5 Public Record Office Public Records Advisory Council