SCHEDULES

C2FIRST SCHEDULE Definition of Public Records

Section 10.

Annotations:
Modifications etc. (not altering text)
C2

Sch. 1 excluded by Transport Act 1968 (c. 73), s. 144(9)

Sch. 1 excluded (E.W.S.) (1.4.1994) by 1993 c. 43, s. 125(6); S.I. 1994/571, art. 5 (with art. 7) (which exclusion was repealed (18.7.1996) by 1996 c. 42, s. 8(2)(3))

Sch. 1 excluded (E.W.S.) (18.9.1996) by 1996 c. 42, ss. 5(3), 8(3)

1

The provisions of this Schedule shall have effect for determining what are public records for the purposes of this Act.

Departmental records

2

1

Subject to the provisions of this paragraph, administrative and departmental records belonging to Her Majesty, whether in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, in right of Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom and, in particular,—

a

records of, or held in, any department of Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, or

b

records of any office, commission or other body or establishment whatsoever under Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom,

shall be public records.

2

Sub-paragraph (1) of this paragraph shall not apply—

a

to records of any government department or body which is wholly or mainly concerned with Scottish affairs, or which carries on its activities wholly or mainly in Scotland, or

b

to registers or certified copies of entries in registers being registers or certified copies kept or deposited in the General Register Office under or in pursuance of any enactment, whether past or future, which provides for the registration of births, deaths, marriages or adoptions, or

c

except so far as provided by paragraph 4 of this Schedule, to records of the Duchy of Lancaster, or

d

to records of the office of the Public Trustee relating to individual trusts F1or

e

to Welsh public records (as defined in the Government of Wales Act 1998).

3

1

Without prejudice to the generality of sub-paragraph (1) of the last foregoing paragraph, the administrative and departmental records of bodies and establishments set out in the Table at the end of this paragraph shall be public records, whether or not they are records belonging to Her Majesty.

2

The provisions of this paragraph shall not be taken as applying to records in any museum or gallery mentioned in the said Table which form part of its permanent collections (that is to say records which the museum or gallery has acquired otherwise than by transfer from or arrangements with a government department).

TABLE

C1PART I

BODIES AND ESTABLISHMENTS UNDER GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS

Responsible Government Department

F134Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Agricultural Wages Board.

Agricultural Wages Committees.

Organisation known as the “National Farm Survey”.

Official seed testing station for England and Wales.

F135Ministry of Defence

Meteorological Office.

F136. . .

F137. . .

F138Department of Health

National Health Service Authorities F139including F140Primary Care TrustsF141, National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts other than local health authorities F142and Authorities for districts or localities in Wales, or for areas in or consisting of Wales (including National Health Service trusts all of whose hospitals, establishments and facilities are situated in Wales).

F143Family Practitioner CommitteesF144for localities in England

F145health service hospitals, within the meaning of the National Health Service Act 1977F146, in England except—

records of endowments passing to Boards of Governors under section seven of the National Health Service Act 1946.

records relating to funds held by Hospital Boards and Committees under sections fifty-nine and sixty of the said Act, andrecords of private patients admitted under section five of the said Act.

F147records of property passing to F148Regional, Area or District Health Authorities or special health authorities under sections 23 to 26 of the M7National Health Service Reorganisation Act 1973 F149or section 92 of the M8National Health Service Act 1977

records of property held by a F150Regional, Area or District Health Authority or special health authority under section 21 or 22 of the said Act 1973F151or section 90 or 91 of the National Health Service Act 1977

F152records of trust property passing to a F153Strategic Health Authority, Health Authority, Special Health Authority or Primary Care Trust by virtue of the Health Authorities Act 1995 or under section 92 of the National Health Service Act 1977 or held by F154a Strategic Health Authority or a Health Authority under section 90 or 91 of that Act.

F155. . .

Home Office

Office of Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis.

Office of Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District.

F156Department of Employment

National Dock Labour Board.

National Institute of Houseworkers Limited.

Wages Boards and Wages Councils.

F157Department of Social Security

National Insurance Advisory Committee.

Industrial Injuries Advisory Council.

F158Attendance Allowance Board.

National Insurance and Industrial Injuries Joint Authorities.

Workmen’s Compensation Supplementation Board.

Pneumoconiosis and Byssinosis Benefit Board.

F159. . .

F160. . .

F161Department of Transport

Air Transport Advisory Council.

Air Registration Board.

F162Airworthiness Requirements Board, Civil Aviation Authority.

F163Strategic Rail Authority.

F164Department for Constitutional Affairs

F165Legal Aid Board

F166Legal Services Commission

X1C3PART IIOTHER ESTABLISHMENTS AND ORGANISATIONS

  • F9F10Adult Learning Inspectorate

  • Anglo-Egyptian Resettlement Board.

  • F11Armouries

  • F12The Big Lottery Fund.

  • F13The Board of the Pension Protection Fund.

  • F14The Board of Trustees of the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside.

  • F15British Coal Corporation

  • F16British Council.

  • British Museum (including the Natural History Museum).

  • F17Care Council for Wales.

  • F18the Care Quality Commission.

  • Catering Wages Commission.

  • F19Central Police Training and Development Authority

  • F20Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission.

  • F21Civil Nuclear Police Authority.

  • F22Coal Authority

  • Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation.

  • F23Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.

  • F24The Commission for Equality and Human Rights.

  • F25F26 Commission for Health Improvement.

  • F27Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection

  • F28Commission on Industrial Relations

  • F29Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health.

  • F30Commission for Rural Communities.

  • F31Commission for Social Care Inspection

  • F32The Committee on Climate Change.

  • F33Competition Commission.

  • F34Competition Service

  • F35F36Consumer Council for Postal Services.

  • F37Consumer Council for Water.

  • F38Council for the Regulation of Health Care Professionals.

  • F39F40Countryside Council for Wales

  • F41Criminal Cases Review Commission

  • F42Crown Agents for Overseas Governments and Administrations (before and after their reconstitution as a body corporate) except when acting for governments or authorities outside Her Majesty’s dominions.

  • F43Crown Agents Holding and Realisation Board.

  • F44F45C4Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales

  • F46F47the Data Protection Commissioner

  • F48A development agency established under section 1 of the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998.

  • Development Commission.

  • F49Director of Fair Access to Higher Education

  • F50F51Disability Rights Commission.

  • F52Electoral Commission.

  • F53. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

  • F54F55English Nature.

  • F56The Environment Agency

  • F57C4Funding Agency for Schools

  • F58 Further Education Funding Council for England.

  • F59F58Further Education Funding Council for Wales.

  • F35F60Gas and Electricity Consumer Council.

  • F61General Social Care Council.

  • F62General Teaching Council for England.

  • F63General Teaching Council for Wales.

  • F58Higher Education Funding Council for England.

  • F64F58Higher Education Funding Council for Wales.

  • F65Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England

  • F66The Homes and Communities Agency.

  • F67Human Tissue Authority.

  • Imperial War Museum.

  • F68Information Commissioner.

  • Irish Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Land Trust.

  • F69Learning and Skills Council for England.

  • F70The Legal Services Board.

  • F71The Legal Services Consultative Panel.

  • F72 The Legal Services Ombudsman

  • F73Local Better Regulation Office.

  • London Museum.

  • F74The Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Legal Education and Conduct

  • F75. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

  • F76F77Millennium Commission.

  • F78F79Monopolies and Mergers Commission.

  • F80National Audit Office

  • F25F81National Care Standards Commission

  • F82. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

  • F83The National Consumer Council.

  • National Gallery.

  • F76F84National Lottery Charities Board.

  • F85National Lottery Commission.

  • National Maritime Museum.

  • F54F86Countryside Agency

  • F87National Policing Improvement Agency.

  • National Portrait Gallery.

  • National Savings Committee.

  • F88Natural England.

  • F89F90Nature Conservancy Council for England

  • F76F91New Opportunities Fund.

  • F92Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

  • F93Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority.

  • F94Office of Communications.

  • F95Office of F96the Director General of Fair Trading.

  • F97Office of Fair Trading.

  • F98Office for Tenants and Social Landlords.

  • F99Olympic Delivery Authority.

  • F100Olympic Lottery Distributor.

  • F101The Ombudsman for the Board of the Pension Protection Fund.

  • F102Pensions Compensation Board.

  • F103Pensions Ombudsman.

  • F104The Pensions Regulator.

  • F105Personal Accounts Delivery Authority

  • F106Police Information Technology Organisation

  • F107Post Office.

  • F108Post Office company (within the meaning of Part IV of the Postal Services Act 2000).

  • F109Qualifications and Curriculum Authority

  • F110F111Qualifications, Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales

  • F112Rail Passengers’ Committees.

  • F113Rail Passengers’ Council.

  • Remploy Limited.

  • F114Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

  • Royal Greenwich Observatory.

  • F115C4School Curriculum and Assessment Authority

  • F116F57C4Schools Funding Council for Wales

  • F117Science Museum

  • F118Security Industry Authority.

  • F119Serious Organised Crime Agency.

  • F120F121The Service Authority for the National Crime Squad.

  • F122F123The Service Authority for the National Criminal Intelligence Service.

  • F124The Simpler Trade Procedures Board.

  • Tate Gallery.

  • F125F126Teacher Training Agency

  • F127Technology Strategy Board.

  • F128Traffic Director for London

  • F129Training and Development Agency for Schools

  • F130. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

  • Trustee Savings Banks Inspection Committee.

  • United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority.

  • University Grants Committee.

  • F131Valuation Tribunal Service.

  • F132Victoria and Albert Museum

  • Wallace Collection.

  • War Works Commission.

  • Any body established for the purpose of determining the boundaries of constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, or of local authorities in England F133or Wales.

F23A

1

Her Majesty may by Order in Council amend the Table at the end of paragraph 3 of this Schedule by adding to either Part of the Table an entry relating to any body or establishment—

a

which, at the time when the Order is made, is specified in Schedule 2 to the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 (departments, etc. subject to investigation), or

b

in respect of which an entry could, at that time, be added to Schedule 2 to that Act by an Order in Council under section 4 of that Act (which confers power to amend that Schedule).

2

An Order in Council under this paragraph may relate to a specified body or establishment or to bodies or establishments falling within a specified description.

3

An Order in Council under this paragraph shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

Records of courts and tribunals

4

1

Subject to the provisions of this paragraph, records of the following descriptions shall be public records for the purposes of this Act:—

a

records of, or held in any department of, the Supreme Court (including any court held under a commission of assize);

b

records of county courts and of any other superior or inferior court of record established since the passing of the M1County Courts Act 1846;

F3c

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

d

records of courts of quarter sessions:

e

records of magistrates’ courts;

f

records of coroners’ courts;

g

records of courts-martial held whether within or outside the United Kingdom by any of Her Majesty’s forces raised in the United Kingdom;

h

records of naval courts held whether within or outside the United Kingdom under the enactments relating to merchant shipping;

i

records of any court exercising jurisdiction held by Her Majesty within a country outside Her dominions;

j

records of any tribunal (by whatever name called)—

i

which has jurisdiction connected with any functions of a department of Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom; or

ii

which has jurisdiction in proceedings to which such a government department is a party or to hear appeals from decisions of such a government department;

k

records of the Lands Tribunal or of any Rent Tribunal or Local Valuation Court;

l

records of the Industrial Court, of the Industrial Disputes Tribunal, and of the National Arbitration Tribunal (which was replaced by the Industrial Disputes Tribunal);

m

records of umpires and deputy-umpires appointed under the M2National Service Act 1948, or the M3Reinstatement in Civil Employment Act 1944;

n

records of ecclesiastical courts when exercising the testamentary and matrimonial jurisdiction removed from them by the M4Court of Probate Act 1857, and the M5Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, respectively;

F4nn

records of the Information Tribunal;

o

records of such other courts or tribunals (by whatever name called) as the Lord Chancellor may by order contained in a statutory instrument specify.

F51A

Records of, or held in any department of, the Supreme Court within sub-paragraph (1)(a) of this paragraph include the records of the Chancery Court of the county palatine of Lancaster and the Chancery Court of the county palatine of Durham (which were abolished by the Courts Act 1971).

1B

Records of county courts within sub-paragraph (1)(b) of this paragraph include the records of the following courts (which were abolished by the Courts Act 1971)—

a

the Tolzey and Pie Poudre Courts of the City and County of Bristol;

b

the Liverpool Court of Passage;

c

the Norwich Guildhall Court; and

d

the Court of Record for the Hundred of Salford.

2

This paragraph shall not apply to any court or tribunal whose jurisdiction extends only to Scotland or Northern Ireland.

3

In this paragraph “records” includes records of any proceedings in the court or tribunal in question and includes rolls, writs, books, decrees, bills, warrants and accounts of, or in the custody of, the court or tribunal in question.

Records of the Chancery of England

5

The records of the Chancery of England F6, other than any which are Welsh public records (as defined in the Government of Wales Act 1998), shall be public records for the purposes of this Act.

Records in Public Record Office

6

Without prejudice to the foregoing provisions of this Schedule, public records for the purposes of this Act shall include—

a

all records within the meaning of the M6Public Record Office Act 1838, or to which that Act was applied, which at the commencement of this Act are in the custody of the Master of the Rolls in pursuance of that Act, and

b

all records (within the meaning of the said Act or to which that Act was applied) which at the commencement of this Act are in the Public Record Office and, in pursuance of the said Act, under the charge and superintendence of the Master of the Rolls, and

c

all records forming part of the same series as any series of documents falling under sub-paragraph (a) or sub-paragraph (b) of this paragraph F7other than any which are Welsh public records (as defined in the Government of Wales Act 1998).

Power to add further categories of records and to determine cases of doubt

7

1

Without prejudice to the Lord Chancellor’s power of making orders under paragraph 4 of this Schedule, Her Majesty may by Order in Council direct that any description of records not falling within the foregoing provisions of this Schedule F8and not being Welsh public records (as defined in the Government of Wales Act 1998) shall be treated as public records for the purposes of this Act but no recommendation shall be made to Her Majesty in Council to make an Order under this sub-paragraph unless a draft of the Order has been laid before Parliament and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament.

2

A question whether any records or description of records are public records for the purposes of this Act shall be referred to and determined by the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chancellor shall include his decisions on such questions in his annual report to Parliament and shall from time to time compile and publish lists of the departments, bodies, establishments, courts and tribunals comprised in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of this Schedule and lists describing more particularly the categories of records which are, or are not, public records as defined in this Schedule.

Interpretation

8

It is hereby declared that any description of government department, court, tribunal or other body or establishment in this Schedule by reference to which a class of public records is framed extends to a government department, court, tribunal or other body or establishment, as the case may be, which has ceased to exist, whether before or after the passing of this Act.