The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Tobias Ellwood)
I wish to apologise for an error made in a written response to a parliamentary question asked by the right hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Jones). The question and answer were as follows:
Asked on 28 October 2014
Mr Kevan Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether completion bonds or other financial arrangements will be put in place before granting the Maritime Heritage Foundation permission to recover at risk surface items from the wreck site of HMS Victory 1744; and what specific communications there have been between government departments on that matter.
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Answer on 5 November 2014
Minister of State for Defence, Welfare and Veterans, the Rt. Hon. Anna Soubry MP: Funding for the approved next stage of the project (recovery of at-risk surface items, subject to a licence by the Marine Management Organisation) is underwritten by a financial bond provided by Odyssey Marine Exploration and held by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). Funding of the project has been discussed by officials from MOD and the Department for Culture Media and Sport as part of the assessment of the Project Design.
Additionally, this response was repeated in a second parliamentary question raised by the right hon. Member for North Durham on 28 November 2014, answered by the then Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, my right hon. Friend the Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey), on 4 December 2014 (PQ UIN 216395).
Subsequent investigations have proved that this information was incorrect. No funding was held by either the Ministry of Defence or the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
As the current Minister for Defence People and Veterans, I wish to correct this error. I have also written to the right hon. Member for North Durham, and the responding Ministers at the time, my right hon. Friends the Members for Broxtowe and for Wantage, to apologise for this error.
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