Lord Laird – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2014-06-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what searches have been undertaken to find the missing files on pre-1998 Northern Ireland royal prerogative of mercy cases; how many are absent; where the paperwork would normally be filed; and whether such paperwork is passed to the National Archives on a routine basis after 30 years.

Baroness Randerson

Before 1998, the use of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy (RPM) in Northern Ireland was relatively common since this pre-dated a number of statutory schemes which enabled sentences to be shortened for various reasons, for example where evidence had been given by prisoners to enable others to be convicted. The overwhelming majority of RPM cases during this period were not terrorist-related.

The Northern Ireland Office continues to seek information on the use of the RPM between 1987 and 1997, including through contacts with other parts of Government which might hold relevant information.

The NIO takes its records management responsibilities seriously and is compliant with all public records legislation and National Archives guidance. This includes routine reviews of records, compliance with records disposal schedules and transfers of records at 30 years to the National Archives.