* posted on behalf of Susan Healy, The National Archives
Steven Jones
Records Management Department
The National Archives
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This afternoon The National Archives has launched a consultation exercise on
whether we need to revise our national records and archives legislation.
Print copies are on their way to a wide range of stakeholders - all UK
government departments, all local authorities, all places of deposit for
public records, members of the Advisory Council, the Inter-departmental
Archives Committee and the Archives Task Force, the devolved
administrations, professional societies and bodies such as the National
Council on Archives, and user groups.
If you can't wait for a print copy, or are not on that list, you can read it
on our website at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk under What's new.
We believe the consultation is relevant to a wide range of people and
organisations. This includes all those who use information, records and
archives, whether for business, research or leisure. It includes everyone in
the wider public sector whose organisation depends on records, and who is
creating and needs to manage and store digital records as well as more
traditional formats. And it includes the tax payer, who has a legitimate
concern for the proper and effective use of public funds. That, we believe,
means that potentially it affects all of us. So we hope you will be able to
devote some time to answering some of the questions it raises.
It is a lengthy document, and we apologise for that, but it covers a wide
range of issues which are critical to getting our public sector information
management processes into proper perspective and order. We have tried to
make it as user-friendly as possible. Please, if you cannot or do not feel
the need to consider all aspects of the paper, just concentrate on those
that most concern you or relate to your own responsibilities.
It is almost half a century since the last major piece of records and
archive legislation, the Public Records Act 1958, was conceived. Since then
there have been huge changes in the world of records and archives, as we
have moved into the 'information age'. Now, the citizen expects - whether
for business, leisure or research - rapid access to accurate information and
our public bodies are increasingly judged on their ability to store, manage
and recover their information, especially when it is in digital form. The
volumes of information we hold have increased enormously. In the public
sector, the demands and standards for public services, and the range of
subjects they cover, have also grown. So have requirements for
accountability, audit and governance purposes. We are subject to new
legislation, such as the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Acts.
All of these things are rooted in the information we hold, and our ability
to manage it, to retrieve it when we need to, and dispose of it properly
when we are finished with it, whether to destruction or to an archive.
There is growing anxiety about our ability to cope with all of this. It was
chiefly the need to deal with the growth in digital records, and systems to
manage them, that first made us question whether the records and archives
legislation we have is still adequate, and to seek a review. With the
agreement of our Minister, the Lord Chancellor, we have worked over many
months, with many colleagues both inside central government and in the
broader public sector, to review the overall position. As we have done so,
more of us have become convinced that there are significant issues we need
to consider. These issues, set out in this consultation document, affect
government at central, regional and local levels as well as related bodies
such as executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies.
When this consultation is complete we will digest and analyse all comments
and responses we have received and we will publish our analysis. From that
analysis we will also produce proposals on records management and archives
in the public sector, for Ministers to consider.
Nothing is yet decided. Of the various suggestions put forward in the
consultation paper, all or none may go forward as part of our eventual
proposals. There is no commitment at this stage to new primary legislation,
and we will aim to make any necessary changes by the simplest effective
means available. Your views will play an important part in the development
of proposals, so please do let us know what you think.
Susan Healy
National Archives
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