---

Lord Chancellors Dept

Answer

Mr. John M. Taylor: To ask the Minister of State, Lord Chancellor's Department what are the current annual storage and maintenance costs for the original enumerators' books for the 1841/51-1911 decennial population censuses for England and Wales; and how many visitors to the Public Record Office in the last five years were granted access to (a) the original 1841-1891 census enumerators' books and (b) micro-film or other copies of those books. [74018] Mr. Hoon: The current storage and maintenance costs for the original enumerators' books for the 1841/51 to 1911 decennial censuses for England and Wales are estimated at £225,000 per annum. In the last five years, 150 visitors to the Public Record Office have been granted access to original returns from the 1841 to 1891 censuses. No precise record has been kept of the number of visitors who have been granted access to micro-film or other copies of those books; our best estimate based on the number of visitors to the Census Room at Chancery Lane and, from 1997, to the Family Records Centre in Islington is 77,000 in 1993-94; 79,000 in 1994-95; 74,000 in 1995-96; 82,000 in 1996-97; 138,000 in 1997-98.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

326 c856W; 74018

Session

1998-99

Subjects

Costs Census Public records Population Microforms Storage Repairs and maintenance Visits Bibliography

Contains statistics

Yes