Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether a log of the daily activities of HQ 39 Infantry Brigade is still in existence; and if so, under whose control it is kept.

Army formation records, including operational logs, are subject to the Public Record Acts 1958 and 1967. These require that records aged 30 years (reducing to 20 years following the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010) are to be reviewed for selection for permanent preservation at The National Archives. Where the record is required for ongoing Departmental business, or the record contains information that is still sensitive, authority will be sought for the record's retention by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). Where a record is not selected for permanent preservation by The National Archives or retention within the Department, it is destroyed.

39 Infantry Brigade originally formed during World War 1, reforming in the 1950's and becoming involved in Northern Ireland in 1969 until its disbandment in 2007. To examine logs for the entirety of the Brigade's formation would require detailed searches through MOD's Main and Sensitive Archives and through The National Archive.

We are unable to determine if any Daily Logs exist without incurring disproportionate cost. If any daily activity logs do exist, they will be under the control of the MOD or The National Archive in line with the review process described above.