T 71 Series licensing arrangement with Ancestry

Request

Licensing arrangement with Ancestry for the T 71 series at The National Archives.

• Correspondence (emails, letters, memos) between TNA and Ancestry negotiating the 2007 agreement
• Internal TNA memos, briefings, or business cases proposing or approving the partnership
• Board papers, committee minutes, or executive decisions authorizing the agreement
• Correspondence regarding which T 71 pieces would be included/excluded from microfilming
• Names and job titles of TNA staff who negotiated and signed the 2007 agreement
• Any correspondence with Ancestry between 2007-2017 regarding T 71 access, usage, or terms
• Any internal reviews or assessments of the 2007 partnership
• All internal correspondence, memos, or project documentation from 2006-2007 explaining the selection criteria for which T 71 pieces would be microfilmed
• Any conservation assessments or handling reports referenced in making these decisions
• Project plans, scope documents, or specifications for the 2007 digitisation
• Whether descendant communities or stakeholders were consulted about which registers to prioritise
• All internal correspondence linking the T 71 digitisation project to the 2007 bicentenary commemorations.
• Any ministerial correspondence or government directives regarding the project.
• Any public statements, press releases, or communications materials about the 2007 launch
• Current facilities agreements or licenses for these on-site presences
• Any correspondence regarding their access to original materials for digitisation purposes
• Whether these arrangements include preferential or exclusive access to collections for digitisation
• What related correspondence and documentation exists from 2006-2007 regarding the partnership negotiation and approval?

Outcome

Some information provided.

Response

We hold information relevant to your request and are pleased to be able to provide some information to you.

We are unable to provide you with some of the information you have requested because it is covered by exemptions at sections 40(2), 43(1), and 43(2) of the FOI Act. For further information about the application of these exemptions please see the annex at the end of this response.

Section 43(1) provides an exemption from disclosure for information which is a trade secret.

Section 43(2) exempts information whose disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any legal person (an individual, a company, the public authority itself or any other legal entity).

Section 40(2) exempts information if revealing it would breach the terms of Data Protection Legislation.

Your request and our response:

Related documentation must exist, I request them:

• Correspondence (emails, letters, memos) between TNA and Ancestry negotiating the 2007 agreement

TNA does not hold this information.

• Internal TNA memos, briefings, or business cases proposing or approving the partnership

TNA does not hold this information.

• Board papers, committee minutes, or executive decisions authorizing the agreement

TNA does not hold this information.

• Correspondence regarding which T 71 pieces would be included/excluded from microfilming

TNA does not hold this information.

• Names and job titles of TNA staff who negotiated and signed the 2007 agreement

Dan Jones, Head of Business Development at The National Archives in 2007 signed the agreement.

• Any correspondence with Ancestry between 2007-2017 regarding T 71 access, usage, or terms

We hold an email entitled ‘RE: T71 British Slave Registers’. Some of the information in this email has been redacted under section 40(2) of the FOI Act. To request a copy of this email please email FOIRequests@nationalarchives.gov.uk

• Any internal reviews or assessments of the 2007 partnership

We hold an email entitled ‘RE: T71 British Slave Registers’. Some of the information in this email has been redacted under section 40(2) of the FOI Act. To request a copy of this email please email FOIRequests@nationalarchives.gov.uk

Incomplete Response on Selection Criteria

I request:

• All internal correspondence, memos, or project documentation from 2006-2007 explaining the selection criteria for which T 71 pieces would be microfilmed

After further investigation, we have ascertained from the microfilm reels that the T71 registers were created by the Reprographics teams in the Public Records Office and The National Archives over a period of years from the 1970s to 2005 (dates listed below).  The microfilm was created either for customers upon request or, when no customer work scheduled, as preservation microfilming for internal use. Title boards (examples from T71 can be downloaded as an attachment to this response) indicate the date of creation and whether this was for a customer or created as part of an internal preservation microfilming purpose.

• Antigua – created in Jan 2005
• Bahamas – created in Sept 2001
• Barbados – created in 1971
• Berbice – created in 1977
• Dominica – created in 2005
• Grenada – created in 2004-2005
• Honduras – created in 2004
• Jamaica – created in 2004
• Mauritius – created in 2003
• Nevis – created in 1971 and 1993
• Sri Lanka (Ceylon) – created date unknown
• St Christopher – created in 2004
• St Lucia – created in 1978 and at a further date unknown
• St Vincent ) – created in 1975
• Tobago – created in 2006
• Trinidad – created in 1972 and 2005
• Virgin Islands – created in 2005

We do not hold any further information as to why particular registers were selected as part of preservation microfilming. The T71 registers are very heavy and large records and require specific handling and retrieval methods due to their size and fragility so this may well have been a consideration in choosing them to be microfilmed for preservation purposes at various times when resources allowed.

• Any conservation assessments or handling reports referenced in making these decisions

TNA does not hold this information.

• Project plans, scope documents, or specifications for the 2007 digitisation

The microfilm of the T71 registers listed above was created prior to 2007. The agreement with The Generations Network/Ancestry was for the conversion of the microfilm copies to digital images rather than from digitisation of the original documents.

• Whether descendant communities or stakeholders were consulted about which registers to prioritise

TNA does not hold this information.

Timing and Context

I request:

• All internal correspondence linking the T 71 digitisation project to the 2007 bicentenary commemorations.

TNA does not hold this information.

• Any ministerial correspondence or government directives regarding the project.

We hold a letter from the Chief Executive of The National Archives replying on behalf of Michael Wills, Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice to a member of the public regarding the project. Some of this information has been redacted under section 40(2) of the FOI Act. To request a copy of this letter please email FOIRequests@nationalarchives.gov.uk

• Any public statements, press releases, or communications materials about the 2007 launch

TNA does not hold this information.

Current Commercial Arrangements

I request:

• Current facilities agreements or licenses for these on-site presences

The National Archives has a shared third-party digitisation suite to allow our academic and genealogy licensing partners to digitise records onsite either themselves or through contracted digitisation vendors. Reimbursement of the direct costs of facilitating the onsite scanning operation, according to prices in force at the time of scanning, are charged to partners. Our standard terms and conditions for digitising onsite form part of all licensing agreements with partners when digitising from original documents. We do not have specific facilities agreements or licenses for use of this shared digitisation space.

• Any correspondence regarding their access to original materials for digitisation purposes

The National Archives holds relevant emails. Information within these emails has been redacted under Sections 40(2), 43(1), and 43(2). To request a copy of these emails please email FOIRequests@nationalarchives.gov.uk

• Whether these arrangements include preferential or exclusive access to collections for digitisation

No partners have preferential or exclusive access to collections for digitisation.

We would also like to note that under the new licence signed in 2023, the entire collection of T71 registers is being digitised from the originals (rather than the microfilm), re-indexed in collaboration with UCL and published on Ancestry’s platform free of charge to the public, and a link will be provided on The National Archives’ catalogue once published. A publication date has not yet been confirmed.

• What related correspondence and documentation exists from 2006-2007 regarding the partnership negotiation and approval?

This part of your request has been addressed previously in the response to the section with the sub-heading of 'Incomplete Response on Selection Criteria'.

Annexe

Exemptions applied

Section 40(2): Personal Information where the applicant is not the data subject

Section 40 exempts personal information about a ‘third party’ (someone other than the requester), if revealing it would breach the terms of Data Protection Legislation. Data Protection Legislation prevents personal information from release if it would be unfair or at odds with the reason why it was collected, or where the subject had officially served notice that releasing it would cause them damage or distress. Personal information must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner as set out by Art. 5 of the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

In this case the exemption applies because the requested material contains information which would identify junior members of staff.

Publishing the names and contact details of junior members of staff is considered an unfair use of personal data. Junior members of staff would have no expectation that information about their positions would be made available in the public domain; to do so would be unfair and contravene the first data protection principle of the Data Protection Act. As such, the names, positions and contact details of junior officials are withheld under section 40 (2) of the FOI Act.

Further guidance about the publication of junior staff names can be found on the ICO website.

Section 43: Commercial Interests

Section 43(1) provides an exemption from disclosure for information which is a trade secret.

Section 43(2) exempts information where disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any legal person (an individual, a company, the public authority itself or any other legal entity).

Sections 43(1) and 43(2) are qualified exemptions and we are required to conduct a Public Interest Test when applying any qualified exemption. This means that after it has been decided that the exemption is engaged, the public interest in releasing the information must be considered. If the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in withholding it then the exemption does not apply and the information must be released. In the FOIA there is a presumption that information should be released unless there are compelling reasons to withhold it.

The Public Interest Test has now been concluded and the balance of the public interest has been found to fall in favour of withholding information under sections 43(1) and 43(2).

Arguments in favour of disclosure:

Considerations in favour of the release of the information included The National Archives’ commitment to openness and transparency in its commercial activities, to allow public scrutiny and to demonstrate that public funds are being used in an efficient and effective way. 

Furthermore private sector companies engaging in commercial activities with the public sector must expect some information about those activities to be disclosed.

Arguments in favour of maintaining the exemption:

Some of the requested information relates to Ancestry’s proprietary processes which constitute trade secrets. The Public Interest in withholding this information is to ensure that Ancestry’s competitors are not given unfair access to specific details relating to their internal processes, which could be utilised to undermine Ancestry’s commercial competitiveness.

Disclosure would also otherwise likely prejudice Ancestry’s commercial interests by providing access to specific details about their internal processes. This would be considered unfair and likely prejudicial to Ancestry’s commercial interests, and ability to compete commercially.

Outcome of the Public Interest Test:

As such, release of Ancestry's trade secrets and information that would likely otherwise prejudice the commercial interests of Ancestry is not seen to be in the public interest, and non-disclosure on this occasion is seen to outweigh any benefits of release. Only a small amount of information from the documents is being withheld, and only what is strictly necessary following consultation with Ancestry. It has therefore been decided that the balance of the public interest lies in favour of withholding the material on this occasion.

Further guidance on the application of this exemption can be found on the ICO website.