I have a spread sheet where perminant information is in row a1, a2, a3 and a4 through columns k1, k2, k3 and k4, some of these cells are merged, I need to lock or protect these particular cells, can this be done?

The default status of all cells on a sheet is "locked" (i.e. protected). This means if you protect the sheet (Tools > Protection > Protect Sheet) then those cells will be locked, depending on the options you activate during the protecting of the sheet.

So, highlight all the cells from A4:K?? press CTRL-1 to open the cell formatting wizard, and use the Protection tab to unlock those cells.

Now, when you protect the sheet, A1:K4 will be locked, the rest will not.