The National Archives (United Kingdom)

The National Archives
Welsh: Yr Archifau Cenedlaethol
Non-ministerial department overview
FormedApril 2003 (2003-04)
JurisdictionEngland and Wales, HM Government
HeadquartersKew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU
51°28′52″N 0°16′46″W / 51.48111°N 0.27944°W / 51.48111; -0.27944
Employees590[1]: 66 
Annual budgetIncrease £46.2 million (2022–23)[2]
Ministers responsible
Non-ministerial department executive
  • Saul Nassé, Chief Executive and Keeper of the Public Records
Parent departmentDepartment for Culture, Media and Sport
Child agencies
  • Office of Public Sector Information
  • His Majesty's Stationery Office
Key document
Websitenationalarchives.gov.uk Edit this at Wikidata
The National Archives building at Kew

The National Archives (TNA; Welsh: Yr Archifau Cenedlaethol) is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom.[3] Its parent department is the Department for Culture, Media and Sport of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.[4] It is the official national archive of the UK Government and for England and Wales; and "guardian of some of the nation's most iconic documents, dating back more than 1,000 years."[5] There are separate national archives for Scotland (the National Records of Scotland) and Northern Ireland (the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland).

TNA was formerly four separate organisations: the Public Record Office (PRO), the Historical Manuscripts Commission, the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) and His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO). The Public Record Office still exists as a legal entity, as the enabling legislation has not been modified,[6][7] and documents held by the institution thus continue to be cited by many scholars as part of the PRO.[8] Since 2008, TNA has also hosted the former UK Statute Law Database, now known as legislation.gov.uk, and since 2022 has hosted a case law database for decisions from superior courts of record since 2003, called Find Case Law .

The department is the responsibility of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sport, Media, Civil Society and Youth; a minister in His Majesty's Government.[9]

  1. ^ "Annual report and accounts of The National Archives: 2022-23" (PDF). The National Archives. July 2023.
  2. ^ "Core financial tables 2022-23" (PDF). The National Archives. July 2023.
  3. ^ "The National Archives". UK Government. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  4. ^ "Machinery of Government changes: Data protection policy; Information Commissioner's Office; The National Archives; and, Government records management policy:Written statement – HCWS209". Inside Government. parliament.uk. 2015. Archived from the original on 30 September 2015. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  5. ^ "Welcome to GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  6. ^ "Freedom of Information Act 2000". www.legislation.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 12 June 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  7. ^ "Public Records Act 1958". www.legislation.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 18 May 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  8. ^ "General Instructions: The Library". academic.oup.com. Archived from the original on 3 June 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  9. ^ "Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Arts, Heritage and Tourism". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 29 January 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2020.