Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when the National Archive received a request from Clive Stafford-Smith, in the interests of Krishna Maharaj and Rupert Burgess for the family of Mrs Muriel McKay, for access to material relating to the investigation and prosecution of the Hosein brothers; which Ministers will need to approve that request; and whether she expects the material requested will be made available.

The National Archives has not received a direct request for information from Mr Clive Stafford-Smith for access to material relating to the investigation and prosecution of the Hosein brothers.

The National Archives received a Freedom of Information (FOI) request on 02 June 2021 on behalf of one of the parties named for access to ten Crown Prosecution Service records (DPP 2/4806-4815) and one Attorney General’s Office record (LO 2/192).

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 gives applicants the right to know whether a public authority holds the information requested and to have it communicated to them, subject to any exemptions, which may apply. Some of the information contained within the requested files has been made accessible to the public, however the majority remained closed because the information is exempt under sections 38 (1) (a) and 40 (2) (by virtue of section 40 (3A) personal data exemption) of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. As exemptions apply, The National Archives cannot make these records available to the applicant or to the public in general.

The FOI process is not subject to Ministerial or Prime Ministerial approval. There is, however, an appeals process in which any application of FOI exemptions/closure can be re-reviewed.

Outside of the FOI process, individual government departments may allow discretionary access to their historic files, having first recalled them from The National Archives for the purposes of review, as permitted by the Public Records Act (1958).