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In 2013 the government will begin its move towards releasing records when they are 20 years old, instead of 30. The introduction of a 20-year rule is a key part of the government's transparency agenda and The National Archives is helping to manage the earlier release of the public record.

In September 2012, 80 government bodies that transfer records to The National Archives provided data on the volume and transfer status of the records they hold that date from up to 1984. The transition to a 20-year rule will take place over ten years and this type of data will be collected throughout that time and published on our website. Read more about the data contained in the record transfer report.

Access the record transfer report

The file shows the data provided by those 21 bodies that transfer 90% of the records sent to The National Archives each year, in A-Z order. The data from the remaining 59 bodies that are included in the report are then also listed alphabetically.

Record transfer report 2012 (XLS, 0.09Mb)

Record transfer report 2012 (CSV, 0.01Mb)

To aid understanding, a visualisation of the data provided by those 21 government departments that transfer a high volume of records to The National Archives has been produced.

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• Cabinet Office

  

• Crown Prosecution Service

  

• Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

  

• Department for Communities and Local Government

  

• Department for Culture, Media and Sport

  Department comment: This body established 1992, not yet due to transfer records.

  

• Department for Education

  

• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

  Department comment: Correct figures for core-Defra.

  

• Department for International Development

  Department comment: a) 87 Legacy records will not transfer to TNA: we seek another place of deposit.
  b) Plan to transfer records up to and including 1984 by end of 2012.

  

• Department for Transport

  Department comment: Review of records up to and including 1990 is underway.

  

• Department for Work and Pensions

  Department comment: Records up to and including 1984 have been reviewed and already transferred.

  

• Department of Energy and Climate Change

  

• Department of Health

  Department comment: Forecast more records to be selected from 1983/4 during 2013.

  

• Foreign and Commonwealth Office

  Department comment: There are around 250,000 files in Special Collections and a plan for their appraisal, selection/destruction is in development.

  

• Health and Safety Executive

  Department comment: HSE has provided information to the best of its current capability.

  

• HM Revenue and Customs

  

• HM Treasury

  Department comment: Project instigated and selection is underway to accelerate transfer.

  

• Home Office

  

• Ministry of Defence

  

• Ministry of Justice

  Department comment: MoJ figures are based on estimated meterage.

  

• Northern Ireland Office

  

• Ordnance Survey

  Department comment: Figures represent the conclusion of a large project initiated in 2009.

  

Note about the data

In September 2012, 80 government bodies that transfer records to The National Archives provided data on the volume of records they hold in the following categories:

• legacy - records dating from 1981 or earlier that were due for transfer or destruction prior to 2012
• current - records dating from 1982 that were due for transfer or destruction in 2012
• forecast - records dating from 1983 and 1984 that are due for transfer or destruction in 2013

Data was also provided on the transfer status of the records held within each of these categories. The volume of records identified as being of potential historical value is shown within the record transfer report as 'records currently selected for transfer'. The volume ready to be transferred for permanent preservation is the 'planned total for year end transfer' figure given in the report and the visualisation.

The 'still to process' figure given in the report and the visualisation includes files which either have not yet been appraised for permanent preservation, or are awaiting disposal. This 'still to process' figure was derived by taking the 'total number of records held' and subtracting the 'number of records currently selected for transfer'.

An explanatory note to the data has been included where one has been provided by the organisation.

Useful links

Access a summary of the public records transferred to The National Archives each year.

Read more about the 20-year rule.

Find out how the records transfer process works.

Read about the legislation that shapes how the government record is managed.

This page contains XLS, CSV files. See plug-ins and file formats for help in accessing these file types.

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