RELEASE OF 1911 CENSUS

Early day motion 871, tabled 22 March 2004 by Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat). Signed by 120 members.

That this House notes that the average closure period for pre-1911 UK decennial population Census records is 80 years and that informants were not guaranteed that the 1911 Census records would be closed for 100 years and that the release of the 1911 Census Online for England and Wales in 2004-05 would be likely to generate between ú10m and ú40m in revenue before the scheduled release date of 2012; and urges the Lord Chancellor and the Registrar General to use their existing powers, under section 5(1) of the Public Records Act 1958, to arrange for the early release of the 1911 Census Online, thus making the most of a golden opportunity to generate very substantial income between 2004 and 2012 from those records and facilitate genealogical research worldwide.

Signatures by party: Labour 45, Liberal Democrat 40, Conservative 22, Labour/Co-operative 5, DUP 2, Independent Conservative 2, Plaid Cymru 2, Scottish National Party 1, UUP 1.