Report on the Meeting of SRAC 28 Oct 2002
The following topics were amongst those raised at the meeting of the SRAC on 28 October:
The NAS, the GROS and the Court of the Lord Lyon have been in consultation with a view to establishing a joint family history service. This would be physically centred on a upgraded Register House campus but would operated largely electronically. Promoting the setting up of local family history research centres would form part of the plan and there would be no reversal of the current policy to send records back to the localities where they were created. The project managers for this new venture are Susan Corrigal (NAS) and Martin Tyson (GROS).
The works currently under way on General Register House are about half way to completion. There has been discussion about the closure of West Register House and the development of Thomas Thomson House in its stead. The problem of access to the latter is a major consideration but its is hoped that plans to open a branch railway station nearby may come to fruition.
An education officer has been appointed for the NAS to upgrade and add to the packs formerly prepared for us in schools.
The SCAN project is well up timetable. Funding ends in October 2003 and thought is being given to the next phase of the project.
The demise of the inspection and registration role of the HMC in Scotland with the fusion of that body with the PRO was noted with regret. It was resolved to establish contact with one of the HMC members who had formerly served on the SRAC.
There was discussion of the SRAC response to the DCMS consultation paper Review of Lottery Funding, issued in July 2002, which had been drafted by the Chairman of the SRAC. It was felt that heritage was a distinct and valuable heading under which to distribute Lottery funds. This was accompanied by a note on the benefits of SCAN as a project that had been funded by the HLF.
There was discussion of draft amendments to the Disposal of Court Records (Scotland) Regulations 1990 and this was accompanied by a discussion paper. Problems arise from the sheer bulk of records being generated by sheriff courts. Furthermore, there is a disparity between the fact that sheriff clerks currently need to keep their records for 10 to 15 years but the NAS does not take these records in until 25 years after their creation. Measures were suggested to alleviate this problem. The present practice of retaining all the sheriff court records of Linlithgow (as a sample) was discussed and would be reviewed.
The relationship between the Scottish Council on Archives and the SRAC was touched on briefly as was the FOI Conference held in September and a report was received from ASLAWG.
The Registrar General reported on the launch of the revised website Scotlandspeople.gov.uk which has replaced the Scots Origins website. The new site had already received 19,000 hits. Its launch had delayed the issuing of the GRO annual report which has now appeared in a revamped form with more charts and texts than previous reports.
Marion Stewart, 29 Oct 2002