The Public Records Office Acts 1838, 1877 and 1898
The Public Record Office Act was passed in 1838 to ‘keep safely the public records’. It placed records of existing and ancient courts of law and their offices in a non-ministerial department under the keepership of the Master of the Rolls. The Public Record Office was organised in a number of branches with headquarters at Rolls House on the Rolls Estate in Chancery Lane, central London.
The Master of Rolls was empowered to regulate public access to records and to fix fees for their inspection, where appropriate. He was also required to appoint a Deputy Keeper as Chief Record Keeper.
At the time, the term ‘record’ referred only to legal documents. However, during the 1840s, papers and documents of government departments began to be accepted for preservation. This development was firmly supported by the Public Record Office and by the Treasury. To legalise matters an Order in Council was issued in 1852. A year earlier the first stone of the new purpose-built repository had been laid on the Rolls Estate and between 1854 and 1856 the various branches were moved into it. In 1862 they were joined by the records and staff of the State Paper Office, which had been absorbed by the Public Record Office in 1854, and further extensions were made to the repository between 1868 and 1900.
A limitation existed, however, as there was no formal requirement for government departments to transfer their papers and make them available for public access. Until the Public Record Office Acts of 1877 and 1898, there was also no provision for the destruction of material not selected for preservation. The 1877 Act allowed the Master of the Rolls to make rules to provide for the destruction of schedules of records which were not of sufficient public value to justify their preservation, so long as Parliament agreed to the schedules. No records older than 1715 were to be disposed of through these rules, a date which was then altered by the 1898 Act to no records earlier than 1660. Concern over this lack of a systematic procedure for government records led to an investigation by a Royal Commission on Public Records (1910-1919), but little came of its findings. It was not until the appointment of a committee in 1952 to review the existing arrangements that reform began.
The Grigg Committee and the Public Records Act 1958
The committee of 1952 was formed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Master of the Rolls. The chairman of this committee on departmental records was Sir James Grigg, a former Permanent Under Secretary of the War Office. The committee’s principal conclusions in its report of 1954 (Cmd 9163) were:
- responsibility for the selection and transfer to the PRO of records worthy of permanent preservation should rest with departments
- the PRO should be responsible for guidance, coordination and supervision of these processes
- responsibility for the PRO should be transferred from the Master of the Rolls to a minister
- most records should pass through a system of first and second reviews, determining which should be preserved until second review for the department’s own purposes and subsequently which should be preserved permanently on grounds of departmental need and historical significance
- records should be transferred to the PRO by the time they were 30 years old and should be opened to general public inspection when they were 50 years old, unless special considerations dictated different periods
- each department should appoint a departmental record officer to be responsible for its records from the time they were created or first reviewed until their destruction or transfer to the PRO, reporting to the director of establishments or an officer of similar status
- a records administration officer should be appointed in the PRO, supported by a number of inspecting officers, to carry out the PRO’s responsibilities
- cinematograph films, photographs and sound recordings should be treated as public records
The government announced its acceptance of the main recommendations in July 1955 and the first records administration officer (RAO) was appointed in December of that year. The first inspecting officers (IOs) were appointed in 1956 and the departmental record officers (DROs) were introduced to work with existing records and to implement new reviewing procedures.
Legislation was required to implement many of the Grigg Committee’s recommendations and the Public Records Act 1958 was the result. It came into force on 1 January 1959 to provide the statutory framework for the new system, and for the new relationship between the PRO and departments. It transferred responsibility for public records and the PRO to the Lord Chancellor, and placed the day to day management of the PRO in the hands of a Keeper of Public Records. For the first time a statutory, general public right of access was given after 50 years – with arrangements for exceptions – to public records transferred to the PRO or to a place of deposit elsewhere appointed by the Lord Chancellor.
The Public Records Act 1967 and the 30-year access rule
In 1967 it was decided to reduce the 50 year closure period to 30 years. This allowed records relating to the First World War and those created before 1923 to be available for public inspection. An amending Public Records Act took effect on 1 January 1968.
The introduction of the 30 year access rule focused attention on the need to identify those papers or records that could be classed as sensitive. The Lord Chancellor’s powers to give those records additional protection, at the request of their originating departments, became more significant.
With the records of the First World War now open, the records of the Second World War and the immediate post war period (other than service personnel records) were made available for public inspection at the beginning of 1972. Second World War service records remained in administrative use to manage pensions and other matters, and in general did not start to be transferred to The National Archives until 2022.
The Freedom of Information Act 2000
In January 2005, the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act replaced those parts of the Public Records Act that related to access to records.
The old regime, under which records were closed for 30 years unless the Lord Chancellor set a longer or a shorter period, has effectively been replaced by the Freedom of Information access regime.
The Public Records Act 1958 and the 20-year rule
The FOI Act did not affect the requirement to transfer public records to The National Archives or a place of deposit by the time they are 30 years old, unless the Lord Chancellor approves their retention in the department for a further period.
In October 2007 the Prime Minister announced an independent review of this deadline, and also of the provision in the FOI Act that some exemptions should fall away after 30 years. The report of the 30 Year Rule Review was published in January 2009 and recommended reduction. The government decided that both the FOI and the Public Records Acts should be amended to reduce the period to 20 years but with some exceptions, one of them being extension of the duration of the exemption in the FOI Act for information relating to communications with the Royal Family and Royal Household. The changes were made through the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.
In 2013 the government began the work of a transition to releasing records when they are 20 years old, instead of 30 – read more about the 20-year rule.
As the national archive for England, Wales and the United Kingdom, The National Archives holds records from across the UK central government and, in smaller numbers, from the central courts.
Legal basis
Under the Public Records Act 1958 (PRA), the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has responsibility for public records and the operation of the overall system. The PRA established the Public Record Office, now The National Archives. It sets out the delegated responsibilities of the Keeper of Public Records to safeguard and preserve public records and maintain the utility of the archive. The Lord Chancellor has particular responsibility for court records. The PRA makes provision for an independent advisory body, The Advisory Council on National Records and Archives to advise the Secretary of State on issues relating to access to public records. It represents the public interest in deciding what records should be open to the public or withheld under Freedom of Information Act 2000 exemptions (FOI Act).
Operation
The PRA places responsibility for the safekeeping, selection and transfer of public records on the body that creates or holds them. It placed a duty on the Keeper to guide, supervise and coordinate the management of public records held by bodies subject to the PRA. In practice, the Keeper issues formal guidance such as the Records Collection Policy and promotes good practice in a variety of ways. The National Archives collects and publishes data on compliance and reports to the Secretary of State.
Bodies subject to the PRA appoint a Departmental Record Officer (DRO) who is responsible for the management and safekeeping of all records regardless of their format. The high-level responsibilities of the DRO are set out in the Section 46 Code of Practice on the Management of Records, issued under the FOI Act.
The National Archives advises government departments on good record keeping, and promotes the effective and efficient management of records across government. This includes access to experts that advise on all aspects of information and records management, covering both physical (i.e., paper, film) and digital records. The National Archives works with DROs and their teams to ensure that records are managed and selected in line with guidance, and prepared for transfer according to the correct technical and archival standard.
Traditionally, the selection of paper public records takes place in two stages. The first, when the records have passed out of active use around five years after a record was created. At this point, records with no value are destroyed, and those identified with potential administrative, research or historical value in the future are kept for further review. The second review takes place closer to the 20 year deadline. The lapse of time gives perspective when judging which records are worthy of permanent preservation.
The process for selecting digital records can be accelerated, to enable the preservation of digital formats and systems that may otherwise become obsolete. For short-term bodies such as public inquiries, The National Archives may take in records soon after the inquiry has completed its work to ensure their survival.
The PRA also gives the Secretary of State power to approve the deposit of records in places other than The National Archives. Examples of records deposited locally include the records of certain courts, records of local interest (such as NHS bodies and prisons), and particular records of national museums and galleries.
Separate national record offices exist for Scotland and Northern Ireland
The National Records of Scotland is a non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government. It was formed in 2011 in a merger of the General Register Office for Scotland and the National Archives of Scotland. It holds records of departments which are wholly or mainly concerned with Scottish affairs, the Scottish courts and of private individuals and organisations.
The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) was established under the Public Records Act (Northern Ireland) 1923. It is the archive for Northern Ireland operating under the Department for Communities in the Northern Ireland Executive. PRONI contains records of the Northern Ireland courts and departments, local government records, and some private and business records.
Access to public records
Until January 2005, access to public records was governed by the Public Records Act 1958, and the Public Records Act 1967. The Freedom Of Information (FOI) Act came fully into force in January 2005 and replaced those parts of the PRA which related to access to records.
When are records made available to the public?
Since the FOI Act came fully into force, members of the public can ask to see information held by public authorities as soon as it has been created. The FOI Act gave people two new rights of access:
- the right to be told whether the information is held by the public authority
- the right to be provided with the information
These access rights may only be overridden by exemptions in the Act.
The FOI access regime replaced that of the PRA, which was commonly referred to as the ’30 year rule’. Before the FOI Act, records were opened on 1 January every year, 30 years after the date of the last document or entry, plus one extra year, to ensure that all papers on the file were at least 30 years old. This was known as the New Year’s Openings. Following consultation,. the government decided that FOI and PRA legislation should be amended to reduce the period to 20 years, so that records would be selected and transferred by 20 years old. These changes were enacted through the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010; so from 2013 two years’ worth of records were transferred by government departments to The National Archives each year until 2022. From 2022 onwards, a single year’s worth of records that have reached 20 years old are transferred.
Most records transferred by 20 years are ‘open’ for public access. Some records however are transferred ‘closed’, meaning subject to FOI exemptions. There are various reasons for this. Some contain sensitive or distressing personal information about people and events. Others include information that could damage national security or international relations if released, or the information may have been supplied subject to certain confidential undertakings. The release of other types of information may be barred under other legislation. Records that were closed for extended periods before the FOI Act came into force in January 2005, remain closed only where an exemption applies.
Are records not held by The National Archives available?
FOI has not directly altered the way in which records are selected for permanent preservation or disposal. Selected records are still transferred to The National Archives or other Places of Deposit by the time they reach 20 years. Most of the records transferred after January 2005 are open; others may be closed under an exemption in the FOI Act.
Under FOI, the public also have a right of access to information in public records before they are transferred. Members of the public should simply ask the public authority which currently holds the information for access to it.
Some records are ‘retained’ by government departments. Retention means that a department requests the right to hold back from transfer a record that is over 20 years old. The approval to retain records is given by the Secretary of State, and lasts for a designated period, usually up to 10 years, after which time a new request must be made. Retention is considered in relation to a specific set of criteria, such as continuing administrative to access original maps and plans of mines as they are used to inform modern urban planning and construction.
Who agrees what should be retained?
The Secretary of State can grant approval to retain records that have reached 20 years. DROs within government departments are ordinarily responsible for making applications to retain records, which are assessed in the first instance by The National Archives. The requests are then considered by the Advisory Council on National Records and Archives, which is chaired by the Master of the Rolls, and composed of academics, researchers, archivists, former officials and MPs. The Advisory Council scrutinises the applications, and those it agrees are passed to the Secretary of State to request final approval.
How can I find out if I can see a record?
Our catalogue, Discovery, holds details of each individual record including of its access status. If a record is ‘closed’ subject to FOI exemptions, an FOI request can be submitted asking for the record to be reviewed. The National Archives FOI Team will review the record in consultation with the government department which transferred it to us. If no exemptions apply, the record will be opened.
Find out about the legislation on public records access and its history.
Until 2000, the Public Records Act 1958 had been substantially amended once (by the Public Records Act 1967) and in detail many times by other statutes and statutory instruments. Most of these minor changes brought bodies within the scope of the Act.
In 2000, however, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 introduced very significant changes, which came into force in January 2005.
Find out more about regulations and legislation that relate to, or have an impact on, your archives and records management. These include the Data Protection Act and the Freedom of Information Act, as well as the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015 which are in force from 18 July 2015. Read more about re-use at Re-using public sector information.
The National Archives is responsible for publishing legislation on legislation.gov.uk and for managing Crown copyright.
There are many things that put your information at risk including changes to your organisation or technology.
If not managed, information risks will have a significant impact on your ability to carry out your business functions and comply with legislation.
To realise the value of your information you need a combination of policies, process, tools and technology that take account of legislative and business requirements.