Merger With The Historical Manuscripts Commission
In April 2003 the PRO merged with the Historical Manuscripts Commission, which moved from a previous site off Chancery Lane to Kew in 2004. The National Archives of Scotland and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland were and remain entirely separate institutions.
Most documents held by the PRO were formerly kept "closed", or secret, for 30 years, although this changed significantly when the UK's Freedom of Information Act came into force. The 30 year rule was abolished and closed records in the PRO are subject to the same access controls as all other records of public authorities under the FOIA. However, some records remain closed for long periods, for example individual census returns are kept closed for 100 years. In 2002 the PRO set up a website to allow online access to the records of the 1901 census, and was overwhelmed by the numbers of people wanting to access the site. Since then, The National Archives has digitised all open census records through partnerships, and all can be searched online.
Read more about this topic: Public Record Office
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