To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether the Lord Chancellor has ever exercised a power or authority to apply Public Records Act Instrument No. 12 (1966) to decennial population census records for England and Wales that have been retained by the Registrar General and have not been deposited in the Public Record Office/National Archives.

Instrument number 12 was signed by the Lord Chancellor in exercise of the power conferred on him under section 5(1) of the Public Records Act 1958. This section governed access to public records in the Public Record Office, now The National Archives, including decennial population records held there.

The Instrument did not cover those decennial census records held by the Registrar General, including those retained by him under section 3(4) of the Public Records Act 1958, and from which the disclosure of information is protected by the provisions of section 8(2) of the Census Act 1920.