National Archives (United Kingdom)
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 The National Archives building at Kew |
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| non-ministerial department overview | |
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| Formed | April 2003 |
| Jurisdiction | England and Wales, Government of the United Kingdom |
| Headquarters | Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU |
| Employees | 679 |
| Annual budget | £43.9 million (2009–2010) |
| Minister responsible |
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| non-ministerial department executive |
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| Parent department | Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Karen Bradley, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport) |
| Child agencies |
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| Key document |
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| Website | nationalarchives |
The National Archives (TNA) is a non-ministerial government department. Its parent department is the Department for Culture, Media and Sport of the United Kingdom. It is the official archive of the UK government and for England and Wales; and "guardian of some of the nation's most iconic documents, dating back more than 1,000 years." There are separate national archives for Scotland (the National Records of Scotland) and Northern Ireland (the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland).
TNA was formerly four separate organisations: the Public Record Office (PRO), the Historical Manuscripts Commission, the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) and Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO). The Public Record Office still exists as a legal entity, as the enabling legislation has not been modified, and documents held by the institution thus continue to be cited by many scholars as part of the PRO. Since 2008, TNA has also hosted the former UK Statute Law Database, now known as legislation.gov.uk.
It is institutional policy to include the definite article, with an initial capital letter, in its name (hence "The National Archives", abbreviated as TNA) but this practice is not always followed in the non-specialist media.
The National Archives is based in Kew in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in south-west London. The building was opened in 1977 as an additional home for the public records, which were held in a building on Chancery Lane. The site was originally a World War I hospital, which was later used by several government departments. It is near to Kew Gardens Underground station.
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