The archives today

Records Management

The Archives' Records Management service provides a centre of expertise for the management of Parliament's business information, providing high quality advisory services, tools and support to staff across both Houses.

Selection and Acquisition

The Archives ensures that records created or held by Parliament which are worthy of permanent preservation are preserved, and acquires other records that contribute significantly to understanding of the history and workings of Parliament, according to its Collection and Acquisition policy (pdf 1.3MB) (pdf 1.3MB).

Preservation

The Archives provides a full collection care service for archival records in all formats to secure their preservation and accessibility. Alongside controlled strongrooms for paper, parchment and other physical materials, the state of the art digital repository ensures long-term digital preservation of Parliament's digital assets.

Access

The Archives provides online access via an up-to-date catalogue of the archives, together with access to digitised materials and Parliament's Web Archive.

Public Services

The Archives provides a public search room for the inspection of records at Westminster, an enquiry service which answers enquires from all over the world, and a copying service.

Outreach

The Archives seeks to promote the archives and history of Parliament as a core resource for research, lifelong learning and leisure, and in support of public engagement with Parliament.  Activities include People and Parliament: Connecting with Communities, exhibitions and displays, loans of documents for exhibitions outside Parliament, social media, assisting television and film crews, and collaborative work with other offices including Parliamentary Outreach, Parliamentary Education, and Parliament's Works of Art collection.

Page last updated May 2019.