Evidence submitted by The National Archives
THE NATIONAL
ARCHIVES
The National Archives (TNA) is a Government
Department and Executive Agency responsible to the Secretary of
State for Constitutional Affairs/Lord Chancellor. The Public Record
Office and the Historical Manuscripts Commission merged to form
TNA in April 2003. The Chief Executive of the National Archives
is both the Keeper of Public Records and the sole Historical Manuscripts
Commissioner. TNA has custody of about 172 linear kilometres of
public records and employs over 500 staff at Kew and at the Family
Records Centre in Islington, which is run as a joint operation
with the Office for National Statistics. In 2003-04 TNA's rapidly
expanding online business handled over 116 million information
requests.
The key functions of The National Archives are
as follows:
— to advise government on the management
of current business records and their selection and transfer to
the National Archives and Places of Deposit;
— to offer everyone the widest possible
access to public records and information about official and private
archives relating British history kept elsewhere;
— to improve the public understanding
of this country's past by researching, promoting and interpreting
public records and other archives, for the benefit of all citizens
and the education sector in particular;
— the promotion of democratic accountability
and transparency in government and the wider public sector, for
which effective record-keeping is an indispensable pre-requisite;
— to ensure that the records (whether
traditional or digital) are preserved and kept accessible in the
long-term.
KEY ROLES
IN RELATION
TO FOI
Currently, records have to be transferred to
the National Archives by the time they are thirty years old but
section 3(4) the Public Records Act allows departments to make
a formal request to the Lord Chancellor to retain them beyond
that date. Under section 5 of the Act they are normally open to
public inspection after thirty years and any variation to that
norm must be approved by the Secretary of State. These variations
can be either to open records early or to withhold them for a
specified longer period. Most applications to retain records relate
to material which is so sensitive that it cannot safely be transferred
to the National Archives. About 60% of requests for extended closure
relate to individual privacy issues, notably information about
victims of crime or their immediate relatives.
Applications to retain or close records are
assessed against criteria set out in the 1993 Open Government
Code and are reviewed by the independent Advisory Council on National
Records and Archives. The Council comprises academics, archivists,
family historians and others. In recent years, it has taken an
increasingly vigorous line in respect of access, seeking both
to protect the privacy of individuals while, at the same time,
ensuring that records are open and that, in particular, information
is not closed on the grounds of embarrassment to officials or
ministers.
From January 2005, the situation will change.
Departments will still be required to transfer records by the
time they are thirty years old and may still seek the Secretary
of State's approval to retain them—that section of the Public
Records Act is not affected by FOI. The Advisory Council will
review such applications and any records which are retained in
this way will be subject to FOI applications made directly to
departments.
The procedures in relation to closing records
when they are transferred to the National Archives will be broadly
similar to those which currently apply and are set out in Part
II of the Records Management Code of Practice, issued under section
46 of the FOI Act. Departments will have to prepare a schedule
identifying information which may not be released on transfer,
citing the relevant exemptions and explaining why they must be
applied. When these schedules propose withholding historical records,
ie those over thirty years old, they will be reviewed by the Advisory
Council which may ask departments to reconsider their decisions
or advise the Lord Chancellor that it is not satisfied with the
response it receives on particular cases. The Lord Chancellor
retains an advisory role in respect of the closure of historical
records.
The procedures for records which are held at
the National Archives but are currently closed will change radically.
Existing closure periods will cease to apply and members of the
public may request to see any information held, whatever its age.
The National Archives will be responsible for determining whether
an FOI exemption applies, but will have to consult the responsible
Department when doing so. The National Archives will give appropriate
weight to the views of the Department when making an exemption
decision and, if agreement cannot be reached, will seek the views
of the Advisory Council. The whole process up to the point of
the exemption decision will have to be completed within 20 days.
If the National Archives decides an exemption does apply and the
exemption is one to which the public interest test applies, the
responsible Department will have to consider whether the public
interest in withholding the information is greater than the public
interest in disclosing it. If it intends to decide that the public
interest in non-disclosure outweighs that in disclosure, it must
consult the Lord Chancellor.
This process is prescribed in section 66 of
the FOI Act. Procedures for how the National Archives and departments
will work together to respond to requests for information in closed
transferred records will be set out in a memorandum of understanding
between Departments and the National Archives, currently in final
draft.
RECORDS MANAGEMENT
We provide advice and guidance to other government
departments in the area of records management. TNA works to ensure
that public records of enduring historical value created by government
in both traditional and digital media are then selected for permanent
preservation.
This work is carried out by our Records Management
Advisory Service (RMAS), which was launched in May 2003 and is
part of our National Advisory Service (NAS). RMAS also offers
extensive advice and guidance on effective record-keeping to public
authorities, in order to help them meet their obligations under
FOI.
The work of RMAS falls into two main areas.
The first is ensuring that the 30% of records that are held in
places of deposit are preserved and accessible to the same standards
as in TNA. RMAS makes sure that the right records go outside TNA,
and that they are managed, interpreted, and used appropriately.
RMAS also gives extensive guidance on the management
of electronic records. The capture, storage and maintenance of
electronic records poses many challenges—departments need
to make sure that the records are captured in the first place,
stored and maintained in a way that retains integrity and authenticity,
and are properly disposed of when they are no longer required
(and are available for transfer to the National Archives if they
have been selected for preservation).
This is being addressed by the Electronic Records
Programme. It is concerned with developing the quality of, and
standards for, the management of current records across government
departments, agencies and other public record bodies. The programme
also works to help departments realise the business benefits of
efficient electronic records management.
Our Digital Preservation Department (DPD) also
addresses the challenges presented by electronic records. The
DPD is responsible for the archiving and preservation of electronic
government records and ensuring that they remain accessible in
the long-term.
To this end, DPD have created a digital repository
which successfully stores electronic government records and is
now available to users at Kew. As e-government has flourished
and the internet has become the main point of interaction between
government and citizen, so the importance of capturing government
websites has increased. The UK Government Web Archive has been
set up to meet this need, featuring a collection of 51 selected
government websites. DPD also offers detailed technical advice
on major preservation issues.
One of the key benefits of the formation of
TNA was that it brought together the Historical Manuscripts Commission's
expertise in private archives with the public records expertise
of the Public Record Office. The HMC, working as part of the National
Advisory Service, provides extensive support and guidance to the
owners of private archives, particularly in the areas of preservation
standards and access provisions.
ACCESS TO
THE RECORDS
Access to our records is free at Kew and at
the Family Records Centre and we pride ourselves on maintaining
high service standards for all of our visitors. To make our records
available to the widest possible audience, we are making selected
records available online. Our most recent initiative is the Documents
Online project, which has made over 1 million wills available
online, including those of Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Lord Byron
and Lord Nelson. The next phase of this project will be to digitise
the Word War 1 medal roll index, which will be a valuable tool
for military and family historians alike. The Moving Here website,
in which TNA is a lead partner, gives access to large numbers
of records dealing with migration to England over the last 200
years, the majority of records coming from the Caribbean, Irish,
Jewish and South Asian communities.
The Research, Knowledge and Academic Services
department (RKAS) acts as a specialist knowledge centre within
TNA, creating and disseminating of quality advice and information
about the content of the historical archives both internally and
externally.
LEGISLATION
The legislation governing TNA and public records
is now over 40 years old and was written in an age when paper
records predominated, computers were not part of daily working
life, and there was less public interest in the workings of public
bodies. The 1958 Public Records Act does not provide the sort
of framework required for the management and preservation of electronic
records in departments and TNA. Nor does it provide for records
as a basis for increased accountability requirements and public
access rights. With all this in mind we issued a public consultation
paper in August 2003 on proposals for new records management and
archives legislation, to affect central and local government in
particular. The consultation attracted over 250 responses and
showed strong support for the proposals. A report on the consultation
was published on TNA's website in March (see www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/policy/proposed/default.htm).
The proposals have been revised in the light of the responses
and will be considered by ministers shortly.
The National Archives
August 2004
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