Agenda item

Joint report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Families and Communities (Staffordshire County Council) and Director of Housing and Community Services (Stoke-on-Trent City Council).

The Committee considered a joint report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Families and Communities (Staffordshire County Council) and Director of Housing and Community Services (Stoke-on-Trent City Council) giving details of the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Archives Service: Annual Report 2018/19 (schedule 1 to the signed minutes) which had been produced in accordance with the Joint Agreement between the two Authorities.

The Annual report provided an account and review of the work and performance of the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Archive Service for the financial year 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019.

This was the first year of the new three-year planning cycle. Notable achievements towards meeting the strategic objectives in the current Forward Plan 2019-2022 included:- (i) opening of the new Lichfield History Centre access point in December 2018; (ii) completion of the Doulton Described project to catalogue the Royal Doulton archive collection; (iii) conclusion of the First World War centennial commemorations including digitization of the Jake Whitehouse Collection; (iv) participation in the Archives West Midlands regional project to acquire the Preservica secure digitisation system; (v) securing funding for the County Asylums project from the Welcome Trust; (vi) securing funding for the Bawdy Courts project from Archives Revealed; (vii) maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction and (viii) sustaining attendance levels at events, talks and group visits.

However, the major cause of disappointment during the year had been the unsuccessful Phase 2 Heritage Lottery Bid for the Staffordshire History Centre.

With regard to the Risk Register, this had been reviewed following a recommendation by the County Council’s Internal Audit Team in May 2018. Whilst the highest risk had previously been associated with “Damage/loss of Digital Archives”, the acquisition of the Preservica digital preservation system had reduced associated risk rating from 20 to 15. Furthermore, of the 15 entries in the Register, only four had been given a rating of 15 (Medium) ie: (i) “Theft of/Damage to Archives while in Public Use”; (ii) “Damage/Loss of Digital Archives; (iii) “Potential Sale of Collections by Owners”; (iv) “Risk of Inability to Transform Service, Build New Storage and Access Facilities for the Archive Service”. The other register entries had all been rated as low.

The Archive Service had first introduced a Service Charter in 1998 as part of their work to meet the Chartermark Customer Service standard. The Charter had not been updated recently to reflect current service standards. Therefore, a review had been carried out during the year and amendments made including updating of information to include the Heritage Service and removal of the 20-minute target for same day production of documents. This reflected the move to advance orders of documents meaning fewer requests were dealt with on the same day.

During her presentation of the report, the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Families and Communities highlighted the complement received from Bernadette Russell for the assistance given to her family in tracing information regarding her grandmother, as referred to in the Annual Report. Members then paid tribute to the work of all staff in the Archive and Heritage Service who had made a valuable contribution towards achieving the various objectives set out in the Forward Plan.

RESOLVED – (i) That the report be received and noted.

(ii) That Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Archives Service: Annual Report 2018/19 be approved for publication.

(iii) That the draft revised Risk Register for Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Joint Archive Service as set out in Appendix 2 to the report be approved.

(iv) That the draft revised Service Charter as set out in Appendix 3 to the report be approved.