Department of Culture, Communications and Sport

Under the FOI Act 2014, I am seeking the following: a copy of any correspondence between the National Archives and the Dept of Housing with regard to the following:4. Letter from Local Authority Archivists There was discussion on the letter received from Niamh Brennan on behalf of the Local Authority and Record Managers Group arising from the publication in November 2021 of the Action Plan for Survivors and Former Residents of Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions, specifically concerning the archival management of records that document among other things actions carried out by local authorities and their historic predecessors in relation to the health and welfare of individuals at local level. It was agreed that a sub-group of the NAAC would draft a letter for issuing to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage specifically highlighting the need for these records to be held in the custody of the relevant local authority in accordance with section 80 (2) of the Local Government Act of 2001 which states that ‘it is a function of a local authority to make arrangements for the proper management, custody, care and conservation of local records and local archives and for inspection by the public of local archives. It was also agreed that the letter would advocate for the employment of archivists in every local authority acknowledging the tremendous contribution made by individual local authority archivists in the preservation of their county’s history. There are currently 12 counties which do not have a permanent archivist. The absence of permanent, professional archivists puts local archives at risk.