Public Records (Jersey) Law 2002: Report on the work of the Jersey Heritage Trust and the States Archivist during 2007

STATES OF JERSEY

Presented to the States on 2nd July 2008
by the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture

STATES GREFFE

REPORT

Background

The Public Records (Jersey) Law 2002 (the “Public Records Law”), under Article 45, requires the Archivist appointed by the Jersey Heritage Trust to report to the States on the performance of the functions of the Archivist and the Trust under the Law and on any developments in the making, management and keeping of Public Records in the previous calendar year.

The Law sets out the principal duties of the Trust and the Archivist as follows –

Trust

· to receive archival public records

· to maintain a public records office

· to employ an Archivist and other staff with appropriate qualifications

Archivist

· to take Oath under the Law

· to appraise public records and survey their disposal

· to manage public records in the custody of the Trust

· to make public records available for the public to access.

Archival Public Records

In 2007, 45 new collections from official bodies were transferred to the Jersey Archive under the Law. These collections contained a total of nearly 6,500 individual items ranging from volumes to files, photographs to film, paper to electronic media. All new collections have been fully accessioned, assessed by the Archive Conservator and placed in the strong-rooms at the Jersey Archive to await cataloguing.

[Please see the attached Appendix for a full list of public records accessioned in 2008.]

The Jersey Archive currently holds approximately 200,000 public records, 70% are fully catalogued and accessible for members of the public to research. The remaining 30% are waiting to be catalogued before they can be made available to the public under the Law. With current staffing levels this represents a 19.7 year cataloguing backlog, an increase of 1.1 years on the backlog of 2006.

In 2007, 5,300 items were catalogued by staff and 11,000 new items (both public and private records) were accessioned. These statistics show that with current staff levels our cataloguing backlog will continue to grow on an annual basis.

Public records currently held at the Jersey Archive are kept in an environmentally controlled secure strong-room which is monitored for temperature and humidity by the Conservator on a daily basis. In 2007 the Conservator spent 500 hours (or one third of her time) ensuring that all public records arriving at the Archive were cleaned and repackaged to ensure their long-term preservation. The Conservator is also responsible for a programme of active conservation of badly damaged items and in 2007 she repaired 7 items. The Archive currently holds over 300 items in an unusable condition that are in need of active conservation work.

Each year the Jersey Archive completes a stock-take to ensure that public records are located correctly in the strong-rooms and that none have been misplaced during the year. In 2007 approximately 50,000 records were checked in stock-taking week and found to be in the correct locations.

Public Access to Records

Under the Law the Trust is required to maintain a public records office and the Archivist to make the public records in her care available for members of the public to access. In 2007 the Jersey Archive was open to the public on 160 days of the year and 3,288 readers made use of the facilities. This is significantly less than half the year.

Approximately 63% of the population are currently in employment and for those who work full-time, access to the Archive is limited to 11 late nights in the year when the Archive is open until 7 p.m. To increase the number of days that the Archive is open to the public and also the access to records for individuals in employment would require increased staff resources.

The Archive also provides access to public records through its online catalogue and enquiries service. In 2007, staff answered over 1,000 written enquiries by letter or e-mail. The catalogue received a total of 71,000 visits with an average visit length of over 30 minutes – a total of 35,500 hours spent looking at the catalogued descriptions of the public records the Archive holds on-line.

Public Services Quality Group

The Jersey Archive is keen to ensure that the views of readers who use the facilities at the Jersey Archive are heard. In November 2007 the Archive took part in the National Archive’s Public Services Quality Group questionnaire of users to Archives. Over a 2 week period, visitors were asked to comment on the staff, facilities and services at the Archive, their cultural and ethnic background and their views on the importance of Archive Services. 98% of individuals classed the visitor facilities and staff at the Archive as ‘very good’ or ‘good’ with 44% of individuals classing the Archive opening hours as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’. 82% of individuals believed that the single area in which the Archive needed most improvement was the current opening hours.

Closed Records

Under the Public Records Law any information produced by a public body is closed to public access for 30 years unless it has been previously available, e.g. published reports. The Records Advisory Panel, appointed under the Law, has the ability to approve recommendations from the Archivist for longer closure periods on records of a sensitive nature, e.g. Children’s Services or Hospital records.

In October 2007 the Archivist produced a new policy on closed records and guidelines for staff at the Archive, setting out procedures to ensure that information, where possible, is made available to the public and, where appropriate, is closed to public access for a specified period of time.

In November 2007 the Archivist reviewed 125 files that, after closure periods of 30 and 100 years, were due to be opened to public access in 2008. After review and consultation with the public bodies that created the records, the Archivist recommended that 120 files be opened to public access on 1st January 2008 and 5 files should be closed for longer periods of time under Part 5, Article 31(5)(a) of the Public Records Law, because they “constitute an unwarranted invasion of the privacy of an individual”. The Records Advisory Panel agreed these recommendations on 10th December 2007.

Legislative work

In October 2007 the Archivist sent comments to the Privileges and Procedures Committee concerning the Draft Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 200- and its impact on the Public Records (Jersey) Law 2002.

Appraisal of Public Records

In her 2006 annual report under the Law, the Archivist highlighted the lack of funding available to the Jersey Heritage Trust to ensure that the Trust and Archivist’s responsibilities to appraise and supervise disposal of public records under the Law were fully met. Additional funding has not been forthcoming in 2007 and therefore work on the appraisal, scheduling and disposal of public records has been largely reactive.

In 2007, the Archivist met with the Head of Administration at Education, Sport and Culture and colleagues from the Education Psychology Service and Information Compliance at Health and Social Services to discuss and agree retention schedules for records produced by Primary and Secondary Schools. Schedules have been agreed and will be taken to Education, Sport and Culture’s senior management team to be signed off in 2008.

Staff at the Archive also met with Public Health to discuss their records filing structure and Children’s Services to discuss retention schedules and file storage. The records located in the Emergency Planning bunker were surveyed and recommendations for retention sent to the Emergency Planning Officer.

Staffing

In June 2007, Linda Romeril was appointed as the new Head of Archives and Collections for the Jersey Heritage Trust. On 1st October she officially replaced Sue Groves, the previous Archivist and was sworn in as Archivist at the Royal Court on 5th October 2007. Mrs. Romeril has worked as an archivist with the Jersey Heritage Trust since 1997 after qualifying with a Masters Degree in Archive Administration from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Mrs. Romeril is a Registered Member of the Society of Archivists.

The Trust currently employs 3 other professional staff at the Jersey Archive, 2 Archivists and one Conservator, along with 2 full- and 2 part-time support staff.

Panel

The Records Advisory Panel met on 4 occasions in 2007. The current members of Panel were sworn in on 12th December 2003 and are appointed for a period not exceeding 6 years. The current Panel members’ terms are therefore due to expire in December 2009.

The Archivist wishes to thank Sue Groves, the members of the Records Advisory Panel and the staff at the Jersey Heritage Trust for their support in 2007.

Conclusion

The Jersey Heritage Trust continues to care for archival public records which are produced as part of the business of government, and as such, form the written and oral cultural heritage of the Island.

The Archivist and her staff continue to work hard to ensure that these records are accessioned, catalogued, re-packaged, stored in the correct conditions and made available for members of the public to view.

However, the Archive does suffer from lack of funding to reduce the cataloguing and conservation backlogs (19.7 and 30 years respectively), to increase accessibility to public records through longer opening hours and to ensure that modern records are appraised and that the correct information is kept for future generations.

2008

In 2008 the Archivist aims to send a questionnaire to all official bodies to assess current progress under the Law. Questionnaires will be followed up by detailed interviews with individuals from each official body to identify programmes of work that need to be put in place to ensure that the functions of the Law are met. This assessment should establish a list of priorities and timescales for future work.

The first quarter of 2008 has already seen a greater cubic quantity of public records deposited at the Archive than in 2007.

The Archivist will also investigate and report to Education, Sport and Culture on the additional staff requirements needed to start stabilising, cataloguing and conservation backlogs, increase archive opening hours and work with modern records.

APPENDIX

Depositor	Accession Number	Accession Description
Customs and Immigration Service	JA/1246	Customs and Immigration Department General Filing, 1950s-1990s
Education, Sport and Culture Department	JA/1306	Education, Sport and Culture additional deposit, includes: Constables’ Accounts, St. Mark’s/La Pouquelaye Amalgamation, Committee of Inquiry (MFA) and Youth Hostel – 24, St. Mark’s Road, 1960s-1990s
Harbours Department	JA/1240	Harbour’s Department – additional deposit of tide-tables and sketches and plans of development at the Harbour, 1966-1998
Health and Social Services Department	JA/1267	Public Health Department: Medical Officer of Health Reports, 1889-
Health and Social Services Department	JA/1321	Jersey General Hospital: Accident and Emergency Admission Registers, c.1956-1995, Minor Operation Register, 1987 and G.P. Admissions, 1995 and 2000-2002
Jersey Airport	JA/1249	Reports from the Jersey Airport relating to 2 air accidents, the machinery of the States of Jersey and a contract for a new radar, 1963-1999
Jersey Heritage Trust	JA/1226	Jersey Heritage Trust: Collection additional deposit of the proposal for the ENVELOP[p]ES Exhibition, 2003
Jersey Heritage Trust	JA/1244	Overseas Trading Company: original orders, employment papers and tomato factory plans and drawings, c.1930s-1950s
Jersey Heritage Trust	JA/1257	Jersey Heritage Trust: additional deposit of the Liberation 60 Project correspondence, filing and images, 2005
Jersey Heritage Trust	JA/1259	Jersey Heritage Trust: additional deposit. Copy of Emigrants from Jersey, The Cod and the Gaspé Coast by George F. Le Feuvre, c.1970s
Jersey Heritage Trust	JA/1301	Certificate from the RNLI to Reginald J. Nicolle, 1949
Jersey Heritage Trust	JA/1334	Jersey Heritage Trust: additional deposit, includes: copies of news-cuttings and DVDs relating to visits to the Trust’s sites, c. 2000s
Jersey Heritage Trust	JA/1336	Jersey Heritage Trust: additional deposit, includes: press cuttings regarding the Jersey Heritage Trust, comment books from Jersey Heritage Trust sites, limited edition prints of Hamptonne by Wayne Audrain, posters, sound recordings, videos and CDs, 1993-2005
Jersey Heritage Trust	JA/1341	Jersey Heritage Trust: additional deposit, includes: annual reviews, leaflets, interpretation notes and the proposal for the Maritime Museum, c.1982-2004
Jersey Heritage Trust	JA/1342	Jersey Heritage Trust: additional deposit, includes: transparencies and photographs of Jersey buildings originally taken by Robin Briault, c.20th-21st Century
Jersey Library	JA/1287	Statement signed by Baron de Rullecourt concerning the desertion of 3 men from the Corps of the Volunteers of Luxembourg of which he is the commanding officer, 16/10/1780
Jersey Library	JA/1346	Miscellaneous Papers from the estate of the late Ian Monins, includes: permits from the Occupation, programmes of events, papers from schools, invitations, tickets, correspondence, posters and calendars, c.1911-1990s
Jersey Meteorological Department	JA/1269	Jersey Weather and Climatological Report, 2003
Jersey Telecom	JA/1290	Jersey Telephone Directories, 2004-2007
Jersey Tourism	JA/1329	Jersey Tourism: additional deposit, includes: scrapbooks, news-cuttings, brochures, publicity photographs, videos and sound, c.1960s-2000s
Jersey Tourism	JA/1337	Jersey Tourism: additional deposit, includes: posters, videos, photographs and a file regarding Jersey Royals, c.1990-2004
Judicial Greffe	JA/1222	Judicial Greffe: additional deposit, includes: Family Division – Matrimonial Causes files [Numbers: 551-600, 700-799, 950-1099, 1200-1212, 1214-1216, 1218-1526, 1528-1549] and registers, Orders in Council, Proclamations, Centeniers’ Reports, German Orders, Cause Civiles and Petty Debts Registers c.1880-1980
Judicial Greffe	JA/1238	Judicial Greffe: additional deposit, includes: Family Division – Matrimonial Causes files [Numbers: 800-949, 1100-1199, 1550-1599, 1776-1830], 1960s-1970s
Judicial Greffe	JA/1251	Judicial Greffe: additional deposit, includes: Family Division – Matrimonial Causes files [Numbers: 1600-1710, 1740-1775, 1831-2510], Trademark Files, Dégrèvement and Jury List, 1936-2005
Judicial Greffe	JA/1288	Judicial Greffe: additional deposit, includes: Family Division – Matrimonial Causes files [Numbers: 1702-4085 not inclusive], 1974-1984
Judicial Greffe	JA/1307	Judicial Greffe: additional deposit, includes: Family Division – Matrimonial Causes files, 1984-1989
Judicial Greffe	JA/1310	Judicial Greffe: additional deposit, includes; summing-ups, Privy Council appeals, remise papers, deeds of arrangement, presumptions of death, papers regarding the computerisation of the Public Registry and lists of Acts of Parliament, c.1932-1988
Judicial Greffe	JA/1318	Draft Royal Court Registers, c.1965-1972 and Notes D’Audience with the Bailiff, Deputy Bailiff and C.J. Le Quesne, c.1950-1964
Judicial Greffe	JA/1319	Judicial Greffe: additional deposit, includes; Fidéicommis Records, c.1890-2006 and Royal Court Journals c.1990-1995
Judicial Greffe	JA/1328	Judicial Greffe: additional deposit of Matrimonial Causes files, 1988-1992
Judicial Greffe	JA/1347	Criminal Prosecutions and Appeals Index, 1979-1981
Law Officers’ Department	JA/1297	Law Officers’ Department: additional deposit: licences granted under the Licensing (Jersey) Law 1974, 1974-1999
Office of the Lieutenant Governor	JA/1272	Lieutenant Governor’s Archive: additional deposit of photographs of past Lieutenant Governors, 1868-2006
Office of the Lieutenant Governor	JA/1343	Lieutenant Governor’s Archive: additional deposit, includes: papers of the Receiver-General, c.1950-2004, naturalisation papers, c.1946-1997 and papers relating to Royal celebrations, c.1980s
Parish of St. Helier Registrar	JA/1352	Registers recording deaths in the Parish of St. Helier, 1850-1968 and samples of birth, marriage and death registration documentation, 1986-2005
Parish of St. Saviour	JA/1295	St. Saviour’s Parish Archive: additional deposit, includes driving licence lists, port d’armes, accounts, correspondence, welfare papers and photographs of Parish events and Lillie Langtry, c.1870-2001
Planning and Environment	JA/1230	Outsize ½ tone positive enlargements of aerial photographs taken by the Ordnance Survey of Jersey, c.1970s-1980s – this is not a complete set of the whole Island
Planning and Environment	JA/1320	Planning and Environment: additional deposit, includes: photographs of Kensington Place c.1968
Property Holdings	JA/1345	Files relating to bunkers, forts, towers and magazines and the Land Office Section, c.1959-1984
St. John’s Parish	JA/1245	St. John’s Parish Records: additional deposit: includes Parish Assembly Minutes, Rates and Electoral Lists, 1675-1974
St. Luke’s School	JA/1283	Admission Registers from St. Luke’s School, 1884-1963, St. Mary’s and St. Peter’s School, 1879-1936, St. James’ School, 1949-1983 and St. Luke’s School Newsletters, 1990s-2000s
States Greffe	JA/1348	Minutes of the States of Jersey, 1999-2006
States of Jersey Fire and Rescue Service	JA/1274	States of Jersey Fire and Rescue Service Records: Minute books giving a daily record of the Fire Service’s activities, 2002-2003
States of Jersey Treasury	JA/1299	States of Jersey Treasury: Financial Report and Accounts, 2006
Viscount’s Department	JA/1278	Viscount’s Department: inquest verdicts, 1887-1945