Back to Browse Magazine

2025 - November and December - page 10

Image details

Issue number 404
ISSN 2632-7171
Publication date 1st November 2025
Transcription magazine ARA News
Advocacy
Update
Police Records
Following a meeting with the Policing Minister
we put out a statement and press release calling
for these records (in England and Wales) to be
Public Records. The statement was published on
our Campaign for Records website and also sent
to all MPs. We also publicised this via our social
media channels.
Care and Adoption Records
Our Chief Archivists in Local Government
Group (CALGG) has been working on guidance
and recommendations on the records of
care and adoption experienced people for
some time. Following a call by the television
programme Long Lost Families for these records
to be digitised, the care and adoption records
working group drafted an alternative proposal.
This was sent in advance to already identified
stakeholders and then published on the ARA
Website, the Campaign for Records website
and sent to our press list and a list of all MPs.
We also publicised this via our social media
channels.
Discussions with the Heritage
Minister
Following a helpful meeting with the Gambling
and Heritage Minister, Baroness Twycross, we
have now supplied the Minister with a formal
briefing that includes a funding request to help
Local Authority archives clear their cataloguing
backlog. This has been shared with The UK
National Archives and with CALGG. We do
not expect a response from the Minister until
Parliament sits again in the middle of October.
Green Party draft Culture Media
and Sport policy
Archives have now been included in the wording
of the Green Party’s draft Culture Media and
Sport policy.
10
Lesley Ferguson appointed as new Chair of the
Archive Service Accreditation Committee.
After serving a term of six years,
Geoff Pick is stepping down
from the role of Chair of the
Archive Service Accreditation
Committee and Lesley
Ferguson takes up the role from
November.
quality assurance relating to
Archive Service Accreditation.
Members of the Committee are
also responsible for approving
accredited archive services
through the Archive Service
Accreditation Panels.
Lesley is the Head of Archives
and Library at Historic
Environment Scotland, an
accredited archives service, and
will retire shortly after a career
spanning over 40 years. She has
direct experience of improving
standards of care for the archive
and implementing digital
preservation; developing the
archive and improving access
through major programmes
of cataloguing, digitisation,
engagement and research, as
well as managing a range of
online systems. At present she
is a Trustee of the Scottish
Council on Archives, and has
Board experience, including
on the Advisory Council for
National Records and Archives
(2014-21) and as Vice-President
of the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland (2008-11).
Archive Service Accreditation
defines good practice and
agreed standards for archive
services across the UK, thereby
encouraging and supporting
the development of the archive
sector.
The Archive Service
Accreditation Committee is
responsible for reviewing policy
and considering matters of
Archive Service Accreditation
is supported by a partnership
of the Archives and Records
Association (UK & Ireland),
Archives and Records Council
Wales, National Records of
Scotland, Public Record Office
of Northern Ireland, Scottish
Council on Archives, The UK
National Archives, and the
Welsh Government through
its Museums, Archives and
Libraries Wales division.
Further information about
Archive Service Accreditation is
available here.