Ministers back National Archives
The UK parliament has published a written answer to three questions raised by Baroness Henig in the Parliament about The National Archives proposals to meet the UK Governments financial austerity measures. The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is a part of The National Archives.
Parliamentary material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO on behalf of Parliament
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the proposed reduction of services at and access to the National Archives at Kew. [HL4966]
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure (a) that fully trained specialist staff are maintained in the National Archives, (b) that the current opening arrangements are maintained, (c) that the National Archives' commitment to research training days for university educational visits are maintained, and (d) that the National Archives remains located at Kew. [HL4967]
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that the proposed reduction of services at and access to the National Archives will not damage the quality of scholarly research conducted at United Kingdom universities. [HL4968]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach): The proposals announced by the National Archives are supported by my right honourable friends the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor (Jack Straw) and the Minister of State for Justice (Michael Wills). The National Archives, like many organisations, faces significant cost pressures, driven in part by the need to meet the increasing expectations of researchers in the digital age and by the growth in numbers of people using its services. The Government are committed to keeping the National Archives' services world class, as well as guaranteeing access to its unique collection for generations to come. These proposals will allow the National Archives to offer its core services effectively and still adapt to the changing needs of its customers.
The National Archives' five-year strategy, which has been also supported by honourable friends in the other place, is to develop its online services to support the widest possible researcher base. Last year, it supported the research needs of around 20 million people and delivered 100 million records online. Going forward, it will continue to invest in improving access to its records and expertise online by, for example, developing its online catalogue, continuing digitisation projects and launching innovative online tutorials. 174 documents are now accessed online for every original document accessed in the reading rooms at Kew, demonstrating the importance of using the resources at its disposal to support online service development.
While the National Archives is proposing to reorganise its specialist staff teams, they will continue to deliver the same level and quality of services their researchers currently receive. The outcome of the proposed changes is that they will make it easier for these teams to work together to support the changing needs of their researchers.
The National Archives currently opens its on-site facilities six days a week, and it is proposing to close on Mondays in order to allow some shift of its resources to support customers who use the service online. The
Lord Chancellor and the Minister of State fully support this proposed reduction. Closing an extra day will allow the organisation to expand its online services whilst continuing to offer world-class on-site services. The decision was not taken lightly. Monday was specifically chosen as it is one of the quietest days of the week in terms of customer usage and allows the National Archives to continue to provide services to those who can only visit on evenings and weekends.
The National Archives will continue to work with its partners in support of its strategic priorities. This will include educational visits offered to universities, including the services offered in Kew. It will be continuing to invest also in improving the services offered online, such as podcasts and videoconferencing. Equally, there are no current plans to relocate from Kew.
The National Archives offers services to researchers both at its site in Kew and also online. At the Kew site, although the organisation proposes to close on Mondays, the quality of the service on other days will remain excellent. However, most researchers, whether academic or not, now wish to conduct research online, at a time and place which suits them. There is increasing demand for digitisation of material and excellent online services. The rationale behind the closure on Mondays is to allow the organisation to shift a higher proportion of its resources behind supporting online use of its material. The National Archives has already digitised, and provided electronic access to, significant amounts of important historical content, and is committed to doing more.
The proposals will also ensure that the National Archives is best equipped to meet the challenge of ensuring that government records, which are all now created digitally, will survive until they are available for use by researchers in the future.”
- 132 reads
