§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what special training is given to persons who have responsibility for assessing the historical significance of documents held by his Department. [23281]
§ Sir John WheelerAssessments of the historical significance of departmental records held in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland. I have asked its chief executive, Dr. Malcomson, to arrange for a reply to be given about the training of his staff.
Assessment of the historical significance of departmental records held in London is done in consultation with the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. The staff responsible for this work attend courses, conferences and seminars arranged by the Public Record Office, Kew.
Letter from A. P. W. Malcomson to Mr. Gordon Prentice, dated 5 May 1995:
I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question Number 797 enquiring about the training given to persons who have responsibility for assessing the historical significance of documents held by the Department of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.Documents of historical significance originating in the Northern Ireland Departments are transferred to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) when they have ceased to have recurrent administrative value—usually at twenty years. By this stage, the
34W
Department Number of mobile phones 1987–88 £ 1988–89 £ 1989–90 £ 1990–91 £ 1991–92 £ 1992–93 £ 1993–94 £ 1994–95 £ Education 4 154 335 468 361 450 1,214 2,346 2,807 Agriculture 69 nil 110,000 110,000 111,000 111,500 13,600 16,000 22,400 Finance and Personnel 38 nil nil nil 1,670 8,095 9,490 17,303 16,972 Environment 235 2Approximately £50,000 pa operating cost excluding call charges Economic Development 59 nil 500 2,781 4,077 5,935 12,611 17,552 19,909 Health and Social Services 34 This information is not recorded centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Northern Ireland Office 19 3 — — — — 15,893 13,761 11,434 1 Estimated expenditure. 2 Annual breakdown and call charges not available. 3 Records do not show when mobile phones were first introduced—last three years given only.
assessment of their historical significance will have been carried out by curatorial staff of PRONI, who are all graduates (often in history) and are given a two-year training period before being allowed to make independent, but still supervised, decisions.I hope you find this information helpful.