The Permanent Archive

¶3.7 The material disclosed to the Panel has been provided from an extensive range of sources, including central government departments, wider public authorities, non-governmental organisations, charities and individuals involved with the context, circumstances and aftermath of the disaster. Sources also include national and local media.

¶3.8 The Panel has catalogued and digitised over 25,000 documents that have directly informed the Report in order to add to public understanding of the context, circumstances and consequences of the disaster and why no satisfactory resolution of the issues raised by the families and survivors has been achieved.

Development and content

¶3.9 The development of the Permanent Archive, both digital and hard copy, has been achieved by identifying the organisations involved before, during and after the disaster, and obtaining information not revealed to the families or to the public from those organisations and by the previous inquiries and other processes.

¶3.10 On 17 April 1989 Lord Justice Taylor was appointed by the Home Secretary to conduct an Inquiry into what happened at Hillsborough and to make recommendations regarding crowd control and crowd safety at sports events. Following evidence gathering by the investigating police force (West Midlands Police), written submissions, commissioned reports and oral hearings, LJ Taylor published an Interim Report on 1 August 1989, less than four months after the disaster. This was followed by a more generic Final Report, with minimal focus on the events at Hillsborough, published on 18 January 1990.

¶3.11 The documents and other material relied on by LJ Taylor, particularly in writing the Interim Report, have been disclosed to the Panel. Using this range of evidence the Panel sought and accessed further material relating to the period 1981 to 1989, focusing particularly on the condition of the stadium and structural modifications following serious overcrowding and injury in 1981.

¶3.12 The Panel also accessed further documents concerning the investigation and Inquiry conducted by LJ Taylor and the range of legal and inquisitorial processes that followed: civil actions; inquests; criminal investigations; disciplinary inquiries; judicial reviews; and judicial scrutiny.

¶3.13 Over 80 organisations, and a number of individuals, have disclosed documents and materials to the Archive. These include: central government departments (including the Cabinet Office, the Attorney General's Office and the Crown Prosecution Service); the South Yorkshire Police; the West Midlands Police; the Coroners' Offices; the emergency services; the health authorities; and the local authorities in Liverpool and Sheffield. Bereaved families and survivors have also made documents available to the Panel (see the master catalogue and Appendix 2 of this Report).

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¶3.14 The Archive is the product of an active search process conducted by the Panel. This required negotiation with the organisations and individuals concerned, including central government departments whose records are classed as public records.²² The Public Records Acts 1958 and 1967. Subsequent legislation such as the Freedom of Information Act 2000 has superseded the access provisions of the Acts and a reduced 20-year period (instead of 30 years) for transferring records to the Public Record System is also being introduced from 2013. See www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ information-management/legislation/public-records-act.htm.