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Elizabeth Denham delivered this speech at a conference titled ‘Is there a democratic deficit in our archives?’, at Northumbria University on 25 January. In it she discusses the critical roles archives and information management play in government accountability. She reflects on experiences from her former positions as a professional archivist and regulator of access and privacy rights in Canada before setting out her views on the importance of archives and records to the future of British democracy.

Introduction

Thank you Julie, and many thanks for inviting me to speak today. It is a great pleasure and a privilege to address you this Wednesday morning.

What an honour for my first time in Newcastle to be to convene with my fellow information managers and archivists.

I pay tribute to the British Records Association for supporting this conference.

And what a pivotal time it is for us. In an age where fake news threatens to erode democracy, the reliability of professional record-keepers can counter the expanding glut of misinformation, sensationalism and false fears.

Add to that the Government putting information management back in the spotlight last week by publishing its response to Sir Alex Allan’s review– and you can see just how relevant, how essential, the contribution you in this room make to society is.

We need archivists and information managers to advocate and promote the importance of good, accurate, accessible information management systems. And yet, most people remain flummoxed as to what exactly constitutes information management, records systems, or data protection and information law.

I’m going to talk to you today about my journey to the UK, where I serve as Information Commissioner, as well as my views on information management and the duty for public authorities to create records.

I cannot fix the year in which emerged my passionate belief that proper information management is an essential element in our democratic society – both in the immediate term and over time. But it must have been before I entered academic study because I remember being obsessed with the “ah ha” moments of discoveries by investigative journalists, digging through government records to uncover the “truth” behind a wall of secrecy.

And I have since become a firm believer that we must hold accountable public officials, both elected and appointed, – through the immediate process of FOI and through historical study by scholars.

This means well organised, funded and complete public records in The National Archives and every other institution that oversees the keep-sakes of our collective journey.

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