Cutting Stormont’s archive
Removing seven years of statements from the Executive website hinders accountability. Peter Cheney reports.
The Executive has deleted its online archive of press releases from direct rule and the first Executive, making it harder to hold government to account for its actions. All other governments in the UK and Ireland keep their predecessors’ statements online, for the historical record. Scotland’s site, for example, is www.scotland.gov.uk/news/releases
www.northernireland.gov.uk included an archive of all press releases going back to December 1999 before it was revamped in late 2010. The new site only carries statements from April 2007, when the DUP-Sinn Féin administration was taking shape.
Statements by devolved and direct rule ministers from December 1999 to March 2007 are effectively deleted from the official record. Journalists and researchers searching for that information have to look up old website versions at web.archive.org
In contrast, the Northern Ireland Office publishes a detailed collection of statements going back to January 2005, on its own site, and as far back as December 1996 at webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Back in 2007, Mark Durkan lamented a ‘year zero’ approach from the two main parties “in their pretence that nothing good comes from before and that everything starts with them”. David Ford summed up the new Executive’s attitude as “the end of history”.
On 16 December, UUP MLA Danny Kinahan asked the First Minister and deputy First Minister why the archived statements and publications were removed. He also challenged the ministers on whether this promoted transparent government.
Replying on 30 January, Robinson and McGuinness confirmed that a formal decision was made in late 2010 to publish information only from the restoration of devolution.
The response added: “This reflected current best practice in website management so that the website is current and up-to-date rather than being an online repository for all NICS departments’ historical documents, statements and news releases going back over numerous administrations, including those under direct rule.”
However, the Northern Ireland Civil Service’s own information systems strategy (January 2011) emphasises “the need for efficient retrieval of electronic public documents and records”. It adds that “assured long term access to our electronic records” is needed to comply with the Public Records Act (Northern Ireland) 1923.
An additional best practice guide on archiving websites (TG105) was issued by the Central Office of Information for the public sector across the UK in March 2009. The guidance says that websites should be archived “regularly and accurately” with clear addresses and contents lists.
When challenged on transparency, the ministers told Kinahan that readers “may request historical documents” by contacting departments: “Such arrangements are reasonable for accessing older information and are in line with the ethos of transparency in government.”
On taking office, David Cameron set out clear standards on open information in Westminster, including “a presumption in favour of transparency” with exemptions for national security and personal privacy. The Cabinet Office interprets this as making “as much public sector data as possible”, including documents, freely available.
