Easier access to historic wills under new government plans – Ministry of Justice

Posted December 19th, 2023 in archives, consultations, Ministry of Justice, news, wills by tracey

‘The ambitious digitisation programme could see millions of wills dating back more than 150 years moved online and more easily accessible to the public in a bid to improve the current storage system.’

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Ministry of Justice, 15th December 2023

Source: www.gov.uk

Ministry of Justice plan to destroy historical wills is ‘insane’, say experts – The Guardian

Posted December 19th, 2023 in archives, consultations, Ministry of Justice, news, wills by tracey

‘“Sheer vandalism” and “insane”. This is how leading historians on Monday described government plans to destroy millions of historical wills to save on storage costs. The Ministry of Justice is consulting on digitising and then throwing away about 100m paper originals of the last wills and testaments of British people dating back more than 150 years in an effort to save £4.5m a year.’

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The Guardian, 18th December 2023

Source: www.theguardian.com

Talking Pensions Ep10 – Pensions Barrister

Posted October 5th, 2023 in archives, news, pensions, podcasts by sally

‘In this episode, Paul talks to Jeff Highfield, former Head of Finance at the PPF and now chair of the Pensions Archive Trust, about the work of the trust in archiving material from private pension schemes.’

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Pensions Barrister, 4th October 2023

Source: www.pensionsbarrister.com

High Court judges “failing to send judgments for publication” – Legal Futures

Posted September 19th, 2023 in archives, internet, judgments, judiciary, news, statistics by sally

‘One in five judgments by the senior courts and tribunals of England and Wales are not being published, the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting in England and Wales (ICLR) has found.’

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Legal Futures, 19th September 2023

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

One fifth of judgments missing from national database – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted September 15th, 2023 in archives, courts, delay, family courts, judgments, news, statistics by tracey

‘Important gaps remain in the government’s official repository of court judgments more than a year after its launch, research has revealed. According to the study by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting in England and Wales (ICLR), about 20% of the judgments that might be expected to be on the National Archives’ Find Case Law database are missing.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 15th September 2023

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

SRA wins approval to destroy 765,000 files from shut-down firms – Legal Futures

‘The High Court has given the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) permission to destroy immediately around 765,000 files it is storing after intervening in law firms in recent years.’

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Legal Futures, 3rd March 2023

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

A quarter of listed cases not published by National Archives – Legal Futures

Posted January 24th, 2023 in archives, courts, delay, internet, judgments, law reports, news, reports by sally

‘The National Archives (TNA), which took over as the immediate online publisher of senior court judgments last year, failed to publish judgments in over a quarter of cases in its first three months of operation, a report has found.’

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Legal Futures, 24th January 2023

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Official judgment portal set to go live – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted November 29th, 2021 in archives, internet, judgments, Ministry of Justice, news by tracey

‘Nearly 50,000 court judgments have been set up to be posted online in the first phase of the government’s plan to create a cutting-edge free repository of legal information, the Gazette can reveal. The service, hosted by the National Archives, will go live next April when the Ministry of Justice’s contract with the British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII) expires.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 29th November 2021

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Anger over ‘grotesque abuse’ of £600,000 case to keep Mountbatten papers secret – The Guardian

Posted November 8th, 2021 in archives, costs, freedom of information, government departments, news, universities by tracey

‘The Cabinet Office has been accused of a “grotesque abuse” of public funds in a freedom of information battle over the personal diaries of Lord and Lady Mountbatten in which costs are now expected to exceed £600,000.’

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The Guardian, 7th November 2021

Source: www.theguardian.com

Files shed light on alleged efforts to hide 1970s police corruption – The Guardian

Posted August 20th, 2018 in archives, corruption, documents, London, news, police by sally

‘Documents retained by a senior detective involved in one of Britain’s biggest police corruption inquiries have shed light on how efforts were allegedly made to prevent the true scale of wrongdoing from coming to light.’

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The Guardian, 19th August 2018

Source: www.theguardian.com

Battle of Orgreave: more unreleased police files uncovered – The Guardian

Posted March 2nd, 2018 in archives, demonstrations, miners, news, police, public order, select committees by tracey

‘Unreleased files about the Battle of Orgreave from five police forces, including a contemporaneous report by a chief constable on the policing of the miner’s strike, have been uncovered by the Commons home affairs committee.’

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The Guardian, 1st March 2018

Source: www.theguardian.com

Legal records at risk – Counsel

Posted February 22nd, 2017 in archives, barristers, confidentiality, documents, legal history, legal profession, news by sally

‘The Bar is in danger of losing its distinct legal heritage, warns Clare Cowling – who outlines the considerable research value to be found in chambers records’

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Counsel, March 2017

Source: www.counselmagazine.co.uk

Secret files on battle of Orgreave could be published within weeks – The Guardian

Posted January 30th, 2017 in archives, documents, industrial action, news, select committees by sally

‘Home Office files that have been classified for more than 30 years and could help unlock the truth about the battle of Orgreave could be published within weeks, the government has revealed.’

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The Guardian, 27th January 2017

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Orgreave files ‘to be made public next year’ – The Guardian

Posted December 12th, 2016 in archives, documents, industrial action, miners, news, police, select committees by sally

‘Home Office files concerning events at the “battle of Orgreave” are due to be released next year among a cache of records relating to the 1984 miners’ strike.’

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The Guardian, 11th December 2016

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Government has a ‘duty’ to safeguard thousand year old tradition of printing laws on vellum, says minister – Daily Telegraph

Posted April 20th, 2016 in archives, legislation, news, parliament by sally

‘The Government has a “duty” to safeguard the thousand-year-old practice of recording Britain’s laws on vellum, a minister has said as he confirmed his department has found the £80,000 needed to safeguard this “great tradition.”‘

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Daily Telegraph, 20th April 2016

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Justice demands court records are kept – The Independent

Posted January 26th, 2016 in appeals, archives, courts, documents, news by sally

‘Open and accountable justice requires records to be kept. Those who believe they are the victim of a miscarriage of justice need to know what was said at their trial if they are to show that they have been wrongly convicted. It seems extraordinary, therefore, that official guidelines require the destruction of the recordings of court cases after seven years. ‘

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The Independent, 24th January 2016

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Terror law prompts British Library to reject unique Taliban archive – The Guardian

Posted September 1st, 2015 in archives, libraries, news, terrorism by sally

‘The British Library has refused to host a unique digital archive of Taliban documents because officials fear that holding the collection would violate British anti-terrorism laws.’

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The Guardian, 28th August 2015

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

New UK rules finalised on the re-use of public sector information – OUT-LAW.com

‘Public bodies in the UK must make it easier for businesses to re-use the information they hold from the middle of next month, under new regulations that have been passed by parliament.’
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OUT-LAW.com, 30th June 2015

Source: www.out-law.com

Intervention papers may be destroyed, court rules – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted February 11th, 2015 in archives, documents, Law Society, news, solicitors, Solicitors Regulation Authority by sally

‘The Law Society can destroy 1.5 million files seized from Solicitors Regulation Authority interventions in solicitors’ practices, the High Court has ruled.’

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Law Society’s Gazette, 10th February 2014

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

The time when child abuse wasn’t dealt with properly – BBC News

Posted July 11th, 2014 in archives, child abuse, inquiries, news, sexual offences, teachers by sally

‘A major inquiry has been launched into how historical allegations of child abuse were handled. The UK’s National Archives contain some appalling examples of abuse at children’s homes and approved schools from decades past.’

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BBC News, 11th July 2014

Source: www.bbc.co.uk