Government websites now archived

Web users can now access the first UK archive of government websites, a preservation of 51 sites including the Prime Minister's Office.

According to the National Archives, over half of all interaction between the government and the public is now carried out online.

The new Web Archive, which can be accessed via a link on The National Archives' website, collects sites using crawler software which retrieves and store each page on the site.

Enter the URL of the website you want to view and then select by date from the archived versions available. Websites of 51 government departments are archived, including the Cabinet Office, Court Service and Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

David Ryan, head of archive services at The National Archives, said: "It is essential for the nation's internet heritage in the 21st century to be preserved with the same care as the parchment documents of the 12th century. The Web Archive will preserve an important piece of modern heritage and make it immediately accessible to the public."

The National Archives, which houses one of the world's largest archival collections at its free museum in Kew, eventually wants to archive all UK websites of historic significance.

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