Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department holds historic records relating to the Birmingham pub bombings that have not been deposited in the National Archives.

I can confirm that the Home Office do hold historic records relating to the horrific 1974 Birmingham Pub bombings that have not yet been deposited in the National Archives.

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, files can be retained by Government departments for a range of reasons, including if such documents pertain to national security matters or if they relate to ongoing investigations and proceedings conducted by public authorities. For these reasons, it has been the long standing position of the Home Office under successive governments to retain the aforementioned documents, like all security matters, this decision is kept under regular review.