National Archives merger to create mega government information division

Just a year after its birth, the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is to be merged into The National Archives. The merged organisation intends to become a super authority on government information management.

"The challenges of information management mean that you need a joined up approach with a single body transforming government management of information," said Natalie Ceeney, National Archives chief executive . The departmental merger will take affect in October 2006 and was announced jointly in the House of Commons and the House of Lords by Hilary Armstrong, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Baroness Ashton of Upholland.

"Lots of people are saying there is an overlap," Ceeney said of merger, which is the result of a Cabinet Office review of the OPSI. Ceeney said The National Archives is considered the "appropriate home" for OPSI.

By merging the two departments the government hopes to create a "stronger centre for information management in the public sector," it said in a statement. Carol Tullo, OPSI director said the move, "gives us a pan-governmental view of information and a strong sense of independence".

Ceeney, who recently left the British Library to take up the reigns at The National Archives (NA) said it was clear to her that NA had to look after information now, or there wouldn't be archives in the future.

OPSI will now become the public sector information department of The National Archives, but Tullo insisted, its business as usual.

The OPSI was founded last spring to implement the EU Directive on Public Sector Information. Its responsibilities include managing the Crown Copyright scheme and the Information Fair Trade Scheme , which intends to make government information more readily available. All of these responsibilities will pass over to the NA.

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