Vol. 487 No. 3
242 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands the arrangements, if any, which are made by the National Archives to notify other archive repositories, including local county libraries, of the availability of records from Government Departments when the National Archives on their examination of these records have no interest in them; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3831/98]
No specific administrative arrangements are made to notify other archive repositories of the availability of records from Government Departments when the National Archives has no interest in them. However, when appraising departmental records, the National Archives takes into account the fact that other repositories might be interested in records which are not of interest to it.
There are two legislative procedures whereby such records can be made available for preservation in another repository. Under one procedure the records must in the first instance be transferred to the National Archives for preservation as archives but can subsequently be transferred to another repository in accordance with section 9 of the National Archives Act, 1986. Alternatively, under section 14 of the Act, another repository can be approved as a place of deposit where particular departmental records can be preserved as archives.
To date neither of these procedures has been used for the purpose referred to by the Deputy. The National Archives has not disposed of any archives under section 9. A small number of other repositories has been approved as places of desposit under section 14, but in each case the reason for this being done was not that the records deposited there do not warrant preservation by the National Archives, but rather that the records deposited there are of a specialised character and can best be preserved by the other repository.
