Important records

Selection

The criteria for selecting public records for The National Archives and other archives are defined in the Acquisition and Disposition strategy. This defines records selected for permanent preservation and determines decisions to offer public records to archival institutions other than The National Archives.

The Acquisition and Disposition policies are implemented through the development of Operational selection policies (OSPs). OSPs are normally the subject of public consultation before they are finalised.

The Appraisal policy defines the methods used to determine which government records are worthy of permanent preservation.

General comments and queries about the Acquisition, Appraisal, Disposition and Operational selection policies should be addressed to Jo Moorshead, Appraisal Policy Project Manager.