Oh dear. It seems that Matt Hancock has been called out on his Covid record, again. In his newly-published ‘Pandemic Diaries,’ the former Health Secretary appears to pin the blame on the National Archives in Kew for the late publication of restrictions introducing the ‘rule of six’ on 13 September 2020. Hancock suggested that the new rules – which were made public just 15 minutes before they were due to take effect – were nearly derailed thanks to the Archives closing early that day. He wrote in his memoir that:
As far as I was aware, everything was in place, until I received a message from the office saying there was an issue with the National Archives… The issue really was in Kew. It turns out that until they receive a new law, it isn’t legal – and at the stroke of 4 p.m, the only member of staff on duty went home. Cue a frantic operation to disinter an archivist and order them back to the office. By the time all this was sorted, I was on a train to Newcastle so I asked Ed Argar to do the physical signing. I was just delivering myself a metaphoric pat on the back for overcoming the absurdities of government in a pandemic, when ding! Ding! Up popped an apologetic message from Ed, who had some family crisis and could not sign the regulation after all. Eventually the office managed to get hold of Priti, who did the honours just before midnight. Is this really the most effective way to run a country?
But it transpires that the National Archives are not too happy about being depicted as a bunch of constitutional amateurs and lazy reprobates. When contacted by Steerpike earlier today, staff were only too happy to set the record straight. A spokesman points out that, actually, ‘new Statutory Instruments are made, and can come in to effect, when signed by the appropriate Minister, not when they are sent to Kew to be registered and published.’
Indeed, during the pandemic, the National Archives extended the Statutory Instruments (SI) registration and publishing service to provide 24-hour cover. This extended service was used for 72 SIs, including 16 regulations which were registered and published during the weekend. Emergency Coronavirus SIs were registered and published on average 19 minutes after initial receipt.
Furthermore, it seems that Hancock was a great fan of the National Archives’ work throughout the pandemic. The staff at Kew received an effusive letter of thanks from the then Health Secretary dated 7 September 2020 in which he wrote that:
Who could have predicted the need for urgent and very short notice changes at such a scale? Yet you have risen to the challenge and done your bit as part of the national effort. My team have told me of the out of unstinting hours support they have provided, and the advice and guidance freely given have been incredibly helpful in recent months. As I’m sure you will appreciate, legislation had to be delivered in a much shorter time-frame than in usual times, and not once have the SI Registration team failed to deliver their usual excellent level of service.
Funny how Matt didn’t mention that in his book. Archivists: 1. Hancock: 0.
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