Evidence-first institutional intelligence
Public institutions publish change in fragments.
State of Record holds the evolving public record together, so you can see what changed, what persists and what the evidence does not yet settle.
What the record shows.
Durham County Council
The same future, stated four years apart.
Durham’s own papers first stated a shortfall for 2025-26 in June 2021: £9.4m of savings still to find. By the time the council set that year’s budget, in February 2025, the shortfall before planned savings stood at £21.5m. Held side by side, the two statements show the direction of travel.
£9.4m
savings requirement, June 2021
£21.5m
shortfall before savings, February 2025
Each figure is what the named paper stated: the medium-term plan of June 2021, and the budget report of February 2025, which set planned savings of £18.0m against that shortfall. Plans are revised as circumstances change; the record keeps each version so the direction of travel can be seen. Indicative, not an audited outturn: the accounts for the year are not yet settled.
Every figure above is quoted from the paper or notice that stated it. The record holds each edition as it was published, the earliest paper dating from 2006.
We retain history so change becomes visible.
Every edition keeps its own date and its own source.
When a source changes, the earlier state remains available, so a movement can be shown against what came before rather than reconstructed after the fact.
Built on evidence, not opinion.
Every reading carries the source it came from: the document and page, or the national series and release, so it can be checked. Where a reading rests on one source, it is presented as that source’s statement, not as a settled fact. Where the record holds more than one, they are set against each other before anything is published, and any reading can be challenged.
The figures are not ours. Each was published first by a public institution, or worked out from figures that were, and you can check it before you repeat it.
Each stage tests the one before it: the system looks for what would contradict a reading, not only for what supports it. Where the evidence does not hold, the item is held back rather than published.
- 01Acquire and normalise Collect from official sources and hold them in a common structure.
- 02Cross-check and challenge Test each item against the other records held, across time and domains.
- 03Validate what is supported Retain the elements the evidence carries, with their corroboration.
- Held with its evidence What the evidence carries is retained, with its corroboration.
- Referred for human review Leaves the route where evidence is thin or conflicting. The item is held back for expert review.
The North East Observatory.
The Observatory is where this system is put to work: the retained, connected record of North East local government, held in one place and added to daily. The findings above are drawn from it.
AccessThe Observatory is behind an access gate while its record is being verified. If you want to see it, ask: access is granted personally, on request.
We are not taking open enquiries.
State of Record is built for questions that cannot be answered from one document, one institution or one moment in time.
It is early here, and deliberately quiet. The work is with a small number of institutions, and new engagements are arranged directly rather than through a form.
If your question belongs here
Write to us and say what you are trying to understand. It is read personally, and we will be honest about whether the record can support it, and about when we could take it on.
alexander@intentforge.co.uk