Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will publish a list of the art, cultural and folk artefacts that overseas Governments have requested be returned to their country of origin and which are currently held in (a) public institutions and (b) private collections in the UK.
We do not hold the information requested. Decisions about items in collections are a matter for institutions themselves - and in the case of national museums, statutory duty lies with the board of trustees who operate independently from government at arm’s length. In addition, the government has no locus over private collections.