Catalogue description Public Record Office: Registered Files: General (GEN) series policy records

The GEN series of records was the successor to the numbered series 'subject files' that existed in the Public Record Office (PRO) from 1971 to 1975. Introduced from 1975, there were at least 75 main registry numbered themes that related to policy issues: some high level and others routine operational policy: some of which are unknown. The GEN series records were to provide the overarching 'general' policy that the CASE series of records had represented at the operational level. The series reference was structured according to the file cycle, prefix and numbered theme: e.g. 1/GEN.23 indicates first cycle (file cycles usually lasted five years), General Policy, Deposit of non-public records (theme 23).

The GEN main registry themes that are known to have existed are as follows:

• 1. Accessions and processing of records.
• 2. Conservation of records.
• 3. Committees, commissions and conferences.
• 4. Copyright.
• 5. Disposal of records under the Public Records Act 1958 (s6).
• 6. Editorial work and projects, indexing and listing.
• 7. Search Department.
• 8. Instructional visits.
• 9. Legislation.
• 10. Library.
• 11. Loan of records.
• 12. Museum.
• 13. Permits to inspect closed records.
• 14. Photographic services.
• 15. Printing and publications.
• 16. Advisory Council on Public Records.
• 17. Documents temporarily deposited.
• 18. Purchase of records and finding aids.
• 19. Record agents.
• 20. Repository services.
• 21. Statutory instruments.
• 22. Fees and charges.
• 23. Deposit of non-public records.
• 24. International Council on Archives.
• 25. Seals.
• 26. Control of access to public records outside public custody.
• 27. Gifts of records etc.
• 28. British Transport historical records.
• 29. Proposed educational functions.
• 30. Devolution.
• 31. Neville Williams Prizes.
• 32. Videotape.
• 33. Records Administration.
• 34. Appointment of places of deposit under the Public Records Act 1958 (s4(1)).
• 35. General Register Office.
• 36. Placement of records under the Public Records Act 1958.
• 37. Status of public records under the Public Records Act 1958.
• 38. Public access to records.
• 39. Reprint or reproduction of record publications, lists and documents.
• 40. Withdrawal of records.
• 41. Archives establishment abroad.
• 42. Use of automatic data processing in departments.
• 43. Broadcasting.
• 44. Orders for reproductions of lists and documents.
• 45. Access to non-public records.
• 46. Loan of records from other government departments.
• 47. Forgeries.
• 50. Thefts and misappropriations of documents.
• 52. Strayed public records.
• 54. Parliamentary questions.
• 63. Review of the Working of the Grigg System.
• 64. Disclosure of Official Information.
• 66. Cinematographic Films.
• 67. Anglo-Soviet Cooperation on Archives.
• 68. Research and Planning Unit.
• 71. Automated Data Processing.
• 72. Kew Planning Policy.
• 73. Public relations.
• 75. Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts.

GEN 9 (Legislation) had the following sub-themes:

• 1. Public Record Act 1958 amendments.
• 2. Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industrial Bill.
• 3. Parochial Records Bill.
• 4. Lord Chancellor's Office - Law Commissioners Report.
• 5. Parochial Register and Records Measure.

GEN 33 (Records Administration) had the following sub-themes:

• 1. Modern Records Centre, Warwick University.
• 2. Disposal of Records by a way other than Destruction under the Public Records Act 1958, s3(6).
• 3. Coroners' Records.
• 4. Films.
• 5. Film Usage and Storage Costs in Departments.
• 6. Complaints of Destruction.
• 7. Adoption Records.
• 8. Machine Readable Records (and sub-sub-themes 8.1 Computers and Privacy, 8.2 Social Science Research Council (Survey Archives) and 8.3 Visits to the United States and Canada).
• 9. Intermediate Storage in Wales.
• 10. Hayes.
• 11. Records of World War II.
• 12. Northern Ireland Record Office.
• 13. Lord Chancellor's Office.
• 14. Outside Advice.
• 15. Records Administration News.
• 16. Information to Overseas Archivists and Governments (and sub-sub-theme 16.1 'United States').
• 17. Scottish Record Office.
• 18. Records Administration Department meetings.
• 19. Enquiry into the Requirements for Intermediate Storage.
• 20. Intelligence Papers.
• 21. Personal Records of Civil Servants.
• 22. Cabinet and Cabinet Committee papers, removal of, from files at Second Review.
• 23. First Review procedure.
• 24. General Policy Review on Private Office papers.
• 25. Statutory Bars to Access.
• 26. Highly Classified and Sensitive Documents, Physical Security Circulars.
• 27. Devolution.
• 28. Division Staff.
• 29. Second Review Procedure (including 29.1 sub-sub-theme Private Office papers).
• 30. The Open University (including sub-sub-theme 30.1 Audio-Visual Archive Unit).
• 31. Survey of Shipbuilding Records.
• 32. British Library of Political and Economic Sciences (and sub-sub-theme 32.1 Historical Records Project).
• 33. National Health Service records.
• 34. Records Administration Department Occasional Papers.

It is unknown whether this comprises the full listing of sub registry themes and sub-sub themes. It is understood that the GEN series continued until 1986.