THE LORD CHANCELLOR’S ADVISORY COUNCIL ON
NATIONAL RECORDS AND ARCHIVES
Date:
Time:
13 November 2014
10:30 - 17:15
Venue: The Blue Room, The National Archives
Chair: Professor Arthur Lucas AO OBE
Minutes: Beth Watson - Advisory Council Secretariat
Members: Ms Hillary Bauer
Professor Rodney Brazier
Mr John Collins
Mr John Evans
Ms Sarah Fahy
Ms Lesley Ferguson
Dr Bendor Grosvenor
Mr Stephen Hawker
Mr Graeme Herd
Dr Elizabeth Lomas
Mr John Millen
Dr William Peace
Sir John Ramsden
Mr Michael Smyth
Non-members:
Mr Trevor Woolley
Mr Jeff James, Chief Executive and Keeper, The National Archives
Ms Carol Tullo, Director, Information Policy and Services, The National Archives
Ms Julia Jones, Head of Information Management and Practice, The National
Archives
Mr Sam Whaley, Acting Head of the Chief Executive’s Office, The National
Archives
Mr Stuart Abraham, FOI Centre Manager, The National Archives
Ms Helen Potter, FOI Manager, The National Archives
Ms Trish Humphries, Secretary to the Forum on Historical Manuscripts and
Academic Research
Mr Peter Farr, Private Secretary to the Master of the Rolls
1. Welcome, apologies and introductions
1.1 Apologies of absence were received from the Master of the Rolls and Dr Jeevan Deol.
1.2. The Chairman asked for the minutes to record the Advisory Council’s thanks to Dr Deol in absentia for the valued contributions he has made during his time as a member and in particular the significant role he has played in engaging with outside organisations on the Council’s behalf.
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1.3. The Chairman then welcomed the new members to the meeting.
2. Minutes of the previous meeting
The minutes of the Advisory Council meeting on 15 May were agreed as an accurate record.
3. Matters arising – February and May 2014
The Advisory Council were updated on queries from previous meetings in relation to applications for public records designated as closed and retained.
4. Matters arising – July 2014
Due to the cancellation of the Advisory Council meeting in July 2014, the closure and retention applications which were due to be considered at that meeting were circulated to members electronically. At this meeting the Advisory Council were updated on the queries members had raised.
5. The Advisory Council’s Communications Plan
The Advisory Council considered ways in which it could improve the public’s and other stakeholders understanding of its work and how The National Archives could support it in this.
Members agreed that a working group should be set up to revise and update the content of the website, and to explore how the Advisory Council could better engage with stakeholders.
6. Ministry of Defence (MOD)
Retention application
Representatives from the MOD presented an application for the retention of records under
Section 3.4 of the Public Records Act to enable sensitivity reviews to be undertaken. The Council were content to recommend to the Lord Chancellor that the MOD be permitted to retain the records for 12 months.
Polish Forces Records for the Second World War
The MOD also presented a paper on administrative correspondence related to the attempts to locate the next of kin of Polish servicemen killed in WWII and to return items to them after the war.
The personal effects themselves were returned to the Polish Government in 2003.
Following discussions with The National Archives, it has been agreed that the records should not be selected for permanent preservation. However, rather than destroying them, MOD would prefer to present them to the Polish authorities who they know would be interested in preserving them.
The Council recognised that the final decision lay with the Keeper but members were sympathetic to MOD’s proposals and would have no objection to the papers being presented to the Polish
Government.
7. Forum on Historical Manuscripts and Academic Research: Update
Dr Lomas explained the role of the Forum in supporting the Keeper as Historical Manuscripts
Commissioner and The National Archives with regard to their responsibilities for archives across
England. Since Professor Michael Moss and Dr Clive Field stepped down at the end of June, there had been two vacancies for Council members on the Forum. She would welcome expressions of interest from members who may wish to join.
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Representatives from The National Archives’ Archives Sector Development Directorate (ASD) presented two papers to members.

Strategic Vision for The National Archives Leadership of the Archives Sector
This paper set leading role of The National Archives in influencing government policy, and how it worked with other archives to help them find a new way of delivering services in a time of increased cuts in funding. The National Archives was pleased to report that input from stakeholders during the recent review of its leadership functions had shown that it was seen as an effective sector lead and its work in facilitating sharing and connecting between archives was highly valued. The review had identified some gaps which the strategic vision set out to address.

Future Activities of and Priorities for the Private Archives Team
This paper fed into the strategic vision set out in the previous paper. It explained how the team worked with each sub-sector that fell under the umbrella of private archives in rotation.
They focussed on archives and issues where they would be able to make a difference, but recognised that there was a need to manage expectations in terms of the support The
National Archives could provide. Their aim was to help private archives to build their own capacity and to support the sector by encouraging networking and the effective targeting of
The National Archives’ resources.
Members asked if there had been any work done to determine what value the archives sector brought to each citizen, along the lines of an exercise carried out by the British Library to demonstrate its own value. ASD noted that the arts and sports sectors had also done well by adopting a similar approach but it was a harder exercise for the archives sector. The focus therefore was on showing how archives are meeting their objectives and how they are complying and helping other to comply with information governance requirements.
Members welcomed the strategic vision as a confident statement of intent. As the sector was changing so quickly, they wondered if there would be value in compiling a set of case studies. ASD agreed that there may be work to be done in this area, building on a recent conference in Birmingham where a number of case studies had been shared.
Members were interested to know if The National Archives was able to provide any support for funding applications, particularly for projects related to skills development. It was explained that it would be difficult for The National Archives to do this as it often advised funding bodies. In a response to a question about publicity campaigns to encourage support for the archives sector and whether the option of corporate funding had been explored it was noted that the annual Explore Your
Archives week was proving very successful and The National Archives has been able to use its own profile to raise that of other archives. Dr Grosvenor added that the Forum was always impressed by the leverage The National Archives could have and would support additional resources being made available for this work. The National Archives and its partners had also received a grant from the
Heritage Lottery Fund Catalyst programme to support archives in building fundraising capacity from private sources such as individual and corporate donations, and trusts and foundations.
After the discussion on the papers concluded, Professor Lucas asked any members who were considering joining the Forum to speak to the Forum secretary. Interested members were welcome to attend the Forum meeting on 23 November before making any commitment.
8. Cabinet Office
Following its attendance at the Advisory Council’s meeting in May 2014, the Cabinet Office presented a report on its assessment of the set of records it wished to retain. The Advisory Council was pleased that the assessment had now been carried out and asked that the department submit a revised application for retention or for closure based on its findings in early 2015.
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9. Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The FCO submitted two requests for administrative retention for consideration by the Council.
In the first they asked to be given a 12-month retention on administrative grounds for around 170,000 legacy files identified during a recent file audit which are not already covered by a Lord Chancellor’s
Instrument (LCI). The FCO will ensure that all material identified during the audit is correctly prioritised and submit a review plan for these files at the Council’s next meeting.
The FCO also sought their permission to retain a number of their special collection files until the end of 2015. Review of these files was under away but would not be completed by the end of 2014 when the current LCI expires.
Members expressed some concern about the possibility that the FCO will continue to discover other legacy files. However, they recognised that the FCO was acting in good faith, keeping the Council updated on progress and seeking permission to retain records as soon as it became clear they needed to do so. Therefore, they were content to agree to the requests.
10. Access to Public Records
10.1 Applications for closure – 13 November 2014
The Advisory Council considered the applications for the closure of records. Those not subject to queries were approved.
10.2 Access to public records; application for retention – 13 November 2014
The Advisory Council considered the applications for the retention of records. Those not subject to queries were approved.
11. Any Other Business
11.1 FOI Panel update
The Chairman noted that there was still scope to improve the consistency of the way in which departments submitted information to the Council. The National Archives agreed to continue to work with departments on this.
11.2 Records Review by Sir Alex Allan
Members discussed Sir Alex Allan’s review of records-handling across Government which had been published on 6 November. Members noted that Sir Alex’s suggestion that the FCO consider whether the sensitivity review of the special collections material might be carried out in a simplified, less intensive way, and whether it may be possible to accept greater risks in releasing the material given its age. While they recognised that this could enable the FCO to redirect resources towards its annual releases, they expressed some concern about the dangers in adopting a less stringent sensitivity review process and the wider impact it could have on how the review and release of material is viewed.
Members were also interested in observing how the Cabinet Office Challenge Panel operated and in any subsequent roll-out across other departments.
11.3 Date of Next Meeting
The next meeting of the Advisory Council will be held on 12 February 2015.
There being no further business, the meeting was closed.
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