Information contained in more than 50,000 government files previously closed for 30 years is now available at the National Archives, with selected details accessible online following the start of the Freedom of Information Act.
The opening of the files on 4 January 2005, the first working day after the Act came into force, effectively marks the end of the 30-year rule limiting availability of key government records. The public can now apply for the earlier access to any file.
The files can be accessed at the National Archives in Kew, but some are also available through the records centre's Web site. A statement on the site said that the "so called 30 year rule has disappeared". It said that the 50,000 files available are those reviewed by government departments.
Included in the FoI information online are files on security arrangements in the Channel Tunnel, documents on the miners' strike, a review of the Chemical Defense Establishment at Porton Down, and papers on the resignation of prime minister Harold Wilson in March 1976 and his succession by James Callaghan.
A spokesperson for the National Archives told Government Computing News that only a small selection are initially available online, but more records may be added in future.
"It's really just a taster for people at the moment," said the spokesperson. "As far as FoI is concerned we've put a few relatively big issues on the Web site, items that we think will get the most coverage.
"Over the longer term we do have plans to put more of this kind of information online but we can't say much more in detail at the moment. We've got no plans to put say 5,000 documents online next week, but our aim is to put as many online as possible."
Among the files to be made available will be the hitherto secret notebooks kept by cabinet secretaries which provide detailed accounts of cabinet meetings. The first notebooks covering 1942-46 will be released this year.
The Foreign Office has also decided for the first time to release files concerning discussions with the intelligence services, but they will only cover the period from 1870-1939.
