The Director of Finance updated the Cabinet on the development of Wirral Archives Service since its reopening in September 2008. The report detailed the improvements that had been made, the challenges currently faced and recommended strategies to ensure that the Archives continued to meet expectations.

The recommendations outlined in sections 4-8 of the report were put forward by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and The National Archives (TNA) in the Government policy: ‘Archives for the 21st Century’, presented to Parliament by the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice in November 2009.

The policy ‘sets out the strategic vision for the sustainable development of a vigorous, publicly funded archives sector across England and Wales’. It outlined how the world in which archive services operated had changed over recent years, with the rapid increase in the amount of electronic information being created and held. It set out a vision for archives to aspire to in the way they delivered services; outlined the challenges currently faced; set out five key recommendations in order to create ‘a more vibrant and sustainable archive sector’; and, highlighted the need for concerted action by all parties in order to secure a sustainable future.

Resolved – That,

(1) having considered this report in the context of the Archives for the 21st Century policy, Cabinet agrees the recommendations as outlined in paragraphs 4 to 8 of the report;

(2) Cabinet endorses the Wirral Archives Service Strategy 2010/2011;

(3) Cabinet agrees to the submitting of a bid for the cataloguing of The Cammell Laird Collection,