August 2004
The Secretary of State has indicated that the DCMS broadly accepts the recommendations of the Archives Task Force, but there is no new money for archives in the current spending round. MLA is setting up a forum to oversee the implementation, identify funding priorities arising from the Report and map activities to identify gaps in resources, with a view to preparing a bid for the 2006 comprehensive spending review. NCA is to launch a letter writing campaign to encourage users to write to their MPs about archives and the Task Force specifically. Details are to be circulated in a leaflet and can be found on this web site. Member bodies have also written to the Secretary of State, but few have yet received responses.
Linking Arms, a website where people will be able to find out about all kinds of archives from all over the UK including community archives, is to be developed in a collaborative project led by The National Archives with 15 partners. This would provide a core element of the Archives Gateway recommended by the Task Force. An initial bid has been prepared for HLF and will be developed over the coming year.
The Community Access to Archives Project is currently investigating community involvement in archives, using Hackney and West Yorkshire as case studies. Led by The National Archives, it is evaluating ways of developing relationships between established archives and individuals and groups in the community who might be at risk of social exclusion, who hold archives or create community websites and who might benefit from educational programmes. It is due to report in October and is already feeding into the planning for Linking Arms.
Plans are well advanced for a second Archives Awareness campaign in October to December 2004. Links with a BBC family history series and regional family history roadshows are looking promising. NCA also needs to identify the key strategic issues for the sector and find ways of advocating for them to decision-makers in government. Issues will include the completion of the national archives online network, the need for new overarching legislation for the public sector, the value of archives to the whole community and capacity building including workforce development to sustain the sector's activities.
Of 23 A2A phase 3 bids to HLF, 20 have been successful, two rejected and one unknown. The Big Lottery Fund will be created from a merger of the New Opportunities Fund and Community Fund.
The National Archives' new Advisory Service is taking shape through a series of consultations, co-ordinated by Dr Hallam Smith.
A Film Archive Forum conference is planned for September 2005 against a background of the ongoing review by the British Film Institution of the National Film and TV Archive and the relationship between the BFI and regional audio visual and film archives.
