Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government, who was responsible for (1) drafting, and (2) approving, The National Archives’ Re-closure Policy implemented as a result of sections 45 and 46 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010; and whether any consultation with external stakeholders took place.

The National Archives’ reclosure policy was first drafted by officials in The National Archives and approved by directors and the then Chief Executive and Keeper of Public Records in 2010. Following its inception, the reclosure policy has been kept under continuous review and amended several times, most notably in 2018 due to changes in data protection legislation.

The National Archives’ Reclosure Panel provides internal expert scrutiny of the application of The National Archives’ reclosure policy. The Reclosure Panel is composed of members of staff with expertise in Freedom of Information (FOI) and Data Protection, along with records and catalogue specialists from across The National Archives. The Panel is chaired by the Director for Public Records Access and Government Services. On behalf of the Secretary of State, the Advisory Council on National Records and Archives provides external scrutiny of the Reclosure Panel’s decisions where qualified exemptions under the FOI Act 2000 are applied.

The legal provisions underpinning public access to records held by The National Archives are section 5 of the Public Records Act 1958 and section 1 of the FOI Act 2000 (subject to any relevant exemptions stated elsewhere in the FOI Act).

Under section 2(4) of the Public Records Act 1958, ‘the Keeper of Public Records shall have power to do all such things as appear to him necessary or expedient for maintaining the utility of the Public Record Office.’ When The National Archives are made aware that information in a record may fall within a relevant exemption under the FOI Act or the UKGDPR, the record is temporarily withdrawn from public access so that an assessment may take place.

Whilst this assessment is taking place and subsequently, the statutory right of access to information under the FOI regime of any requestor is not affected. Therefore, an FOI request can still be made for any record that has an ‘Access Under Review’ status on The National Archives’ catalogue, Discovery. Reclosure decisions by The National Archives under the FOI Act are subject to review by the Information Commissioner and, ultimately, the courts.