Part 3: The Permanent Archive for the Hillsborough Disaster

Assembled and proposed to be held permanently for the benefit of the families and the public by the Hillsborough Independent Panel

Introduction

¶3.1 The Hillsborough Independent Panel's remit, set out in its terms of reference, provides that it should 'in line with established practice, work with the Keeper of Public Records in preparing options for establishing an archive of Hillsborough documentation, including a catalogue of all central governmental and local public agency information and a commentary on any information withheld for the benefit of the families or on legal or other grounds'.

¶3.2 Accordingly, Part 3 of this Report describes the present position regarding the documents provided to the Panel and outlines its recommendations for the Permanent Archive.¹¹ The protocol accompanying the Panel's terms of reference says: 'The scope of the disclosure process is intended to cover all documentation held by central government, local government and other public agencies which relates directly to events surrounding the Hillsborough tragedy up to and including the Taylor report, the Lord Stuart-Smith review of Hillsborough papers in 1998-99 and the private prosecution in 2000. The relevant agencies include the police, ambulance service, fire service, coroner and Sheffield City Council'.Show full note The proposed Permanent Archive for the Hillsborough Disaster covers the period leading up to the events of 15 April 1989 until the private prosecutions in 2000, as assembled by the work of the Hillsborough Independent Panel 2010–12.

¶3.3 It comprises the master catalogue and the documents in digital form (these provide the foundation for the Panel's Report and are disclosed on the Panel's website) and the records discovered in their original format (hard copy and audio-visual). Provision has been made to ensure that all material disclosed to the Panel is preserved permanently. It is accessible, digitally or in original copy, to bereaved families, survivors and the public.

¶3.4 Given the unified digital access for the public via the web, the Panel considers there is no requirement to hold original documents and other material in a single place, provided they are catalogued and are available.

¶3.5 The main access is digital. The Permanent Archive of documents and other materials in hard copy is proposed as a Distributed Archive combining central government records transferred to The National Archives at Kew, and local records transferred to Sheffield or to Liverpool as appropriate.

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¶3.6 The digital and hard-copy documents and materials form a lasting national memorial to those who died, survived or were affected by the tragedy. They provide the most complete record of events available, disclosing the decisions taken and actions progressed by those involved throughout an extended period before and since the disaster.