Outcome
Successful.
Request and Response
1. What inspections activities does The National Archives perform?
The National Archives performs Places of Deposit visits in order to assess the suitability of facilities for the safe-keeping and preservation of records and for the public inspection of such records. Such visits are undertaken in accordance with section 4(1) of the Public Records Act 1958 .
The National Archives also performs Conditional Exemption visits on behalf of HM Revenue & Customs in order to ensure there is sufficient public access to exempted material. Such visits are undertaken in accordance with the provisions of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 , the Finance Act 1998 and the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 .
2. How many inspections (of each type if possible) were performed in 2019/20?
In the 2019/20 financial year The National Archives performed 6 Places of Deposit visits and 4 Conditional Exemption visits.
3. How many inspectors do you employ, and what was the annual cost of these inspectors in 2019/20?
The National Archives does not hold this information. TNA staff who perform the aforementioned inspection activities do so alongside other duties and consequently we cannot account for the cost specific to these inspection activities.
4. Do you use third parties to perform these inspections? If so, who did you use, and what was the annual spend in 2019/20?
The National Archives does not use third parties to perform inspections.
5. What information management system, if any, do you use to manage the inspections, and what was the annual spend on this in 2019/20
The National Archives does not use a dedicated information management system to manage inspection activities. Such activities are organised via email and telephone communication and documented on our organisation-wide digital filing system. We do not hold information which would account for the specific annual cost of using these systems to manage inspection activities.