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Historic Environment Records: Benchmarks for Good Practice A brief note to update the Forum on the ALGAO/ EH project to look at the issue of standards and definition for SMR/HERs.The need to address the issue of a general standard for SMRs had long been recognised but was brought more sharply into focus by a number of recent developments, including the attempts to get statutory status for SMRs last year, the interest in historic environment records from APPAG and the committment in' Force for Our Future' to a consultation on historic environment records by DCMS. A rapid consultation was undertaken last autumn as part of a 'scoping exercise' for the project, which included presentations by Stewart Bryant at the SMR Users Group and various ALGAO meetings. The project has been taken forward as a consultancy project by Gill Chitty under ALGAO management. Gill presented an early draft of the report the ALGAO AGM on 30 April and an updated draft of the report was circlated last week to the ALGAO membership. A seminar has also been organised for the 10 July in London to present the report to the wider archaeological and 'stakeholder community', including government, and the natural environment. There will also be ALGAO and SMR representation at the seminar. We have scheduled this in parallel with consulting ALGAO and SMR staff because there is a need to fit in with the proposed DCMS consultation, scheduled to happen in the autumn. In addition the ALGAO SMR committee will be discussing the report on 11July. The report should now be available via the link below and we would very much welcome your comments and views electronically, as soon as possible. The urgency is necessary because a key determinant of the project timetable and the consultation process is the need to fit in with the DCMS timetable for the SMR consultation exercise as mentioned above. However it is proposed as part of the ALGAO response to the DCMS consultation to hold a seminar (probably in September) specifically for SMR officers to facilitate their contribution to that response. The ALGAO/ EH SMR Working Party has already identified some issues arising from the Chitty report, the most pressing of which is the need to define and quantify 'backlogs'. The issue is to be discussed at the SMR Committee on 11 July. It is also hoped that a seminar could be held to discuss this issue, if it was felt necessary, and/or it could be on the agenda for the next SMR Users Group meeting. We hope everyone will take the opportunity to read and consider the report as we feel it is an important step in the process to get local authority historic environment records properly recognised. We would welcome your comments either via the Forum or directly to Caroline Ingle, the ALGAO admin officer. Ken Smith - Chair ALGAO Dave Barrett - Convenor ALGAO SMR Committee link http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/files/SMRFORUM/benchdr.doc David Barrett Archaeologist Derbyshire County Council County Hall Matlock Derbyshire DE4 3AG 01629 580000 ext 7125 [log in to unmask] ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses. www.mimesweeper.com **********************************************************************