LostCousins Newsletter 25 April 2013 - 21st Century GRO round 2

I was wondering if it might be an idea to contact the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Archives and History this is a group of MPs and Lords that are interested in Archives and History. This seems like a key group to contact to sponsor any legislative changes.

There is a list of the group membership here. Search for Archives in that document. Dr Hywel Francis MP is the chair of the group, Lord Bew is the secretary with the Archives and Records Association acting as the group’s secretariat.

Contacting Members of Parliament that are members of a group who are already interested in Archives and History might be the best way to get pressure put on the Home Office to see sense and the contradictions between what one department vs another is saying.

 

The group membership for Archives and History is listed on page 176.

 

Why isn't there an APG for Genealogy?

Can we convince enough people to create one?

 

These are the interests of MPs and Lords in the UK Parliament, there isn't a group specifically for family history. To create such a group you'd first need to get elected to Parliament or made a Peer, are you on the Queen's honour list this year, and haven't told us? Then you'd need to get a group of fellow parliamentarians interested in creating and maintaining such a group.

 

So lets assume for a minute that I'm not going to get elected.

The question really is How can we convince the "right sort" of people to start one?

 

I'd suggest that trying to get press to get a new group started is a bit of a red herring. Instead lets see if we can work with what is already available.

The Archives & History group are clearly interesting in the activities of archivists and public archive records. One could assume that these people would be interested in how the largest government department dealing with archives, interacts with the public. Especially when government reports specifically say that archives should be available online one could assume that such a group would be interested in how that was being implemented and could put pressure on the relevant departments who aren't performing because they would know who the "movers and shakers" are.

 

With the membership of the LC site, I'm sure that we must have family members in one of the houses, and family friends who are MP's or Lords? And these family members will know the right people in the right places to join the cause and make twenty.

I'm not saying don't go down the route of the existing Archives group, but they may already have their own agenda in place.