Local authority responsibilities
Local authorities already do maintain and make available their records and deposited collections and are obliged to continue:
- collecting
- preserving
- providing reasonable access to the public.
An appropriate level of staffing and professional archival expertise is required to deliver these activities.
Key types of records
There are certain classes of records which have specific responsibilities of care and access. These are:
- public records
- diocesan records
- manorial documents
- tithe records
- acquired via Acceptance in Lieu scheme.
These records have specific protection / standards attached to them. In each case, decisions affecting record keeping cannot be made without due consultation with the relevant authorities including The National Archives. Finally, an authority cannot simply absolve itself of responsibility for these records.
Consequences of not delivering responsibilities
Councils can be officially held to account for not managing their records and archive service properly. To take one example, in 2011 the loss of planning records vital to the council’s operations in Warrington led to a major official investigation and condemnation from the Local Government Ombudsman.
A stripped-down service that does not meet the expected level of delivery, may badly affect functions that support the parent body’s objectives and operations or that promote the value of collections to local communities. Failure to deliver an effective service can also cause reputational damage.