Draft Treasure Act 1996 Code of Practice (Second Revision) England and Wales

rose to move, That the draft code of practice laid before the House on20 July be approved [35th Report from the Joint Committee]. The noble Lord said: My Lords, this debate relates to proposed revisions to the code of practice published under the Treasure Act 1996 by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. It spells out the principles and practice to be followed by her in the treasure process and provides guidance to other parties involved in the treasure system. The Secretary of State is under a statutory duty to keep the code under review and to revise it when appropriate. It is being revised now to reflect the fact that certain administrative responsibilities relating to the valuation of finds of treasure and the payment of rewards are to be transferred from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to the British Museum. Currently the DCMS undertakes a number of responsibilities relating to the valuation of treasure finds and the payment of rewards to finders and landowners. It is intended to transfer, with conditions, these responsibilities, in respect of finds made in England and Wales, to the British Museum. The museum already undertakes a number of other responsibilities in relation to the administration of the Treasure Act 1996. This transfer of responsibilities is designed to have two primary benefits. It will improve the service offered to those who report and acquire treasure. No longer will they have to deal with two institutions as a find works its way through the system. They will have to deal with only one institution, the British Museum. By being involved throughout the whole process, staff at the British Museum will be best placed to ensure the smooth progress of any item from the beginning to the end of the treasure system. Locating these responsibilities in one body will also remove the current need to replicate files and expertise over two organisations. This will improve the efficiency of the treasure system, leading to related savings. However, we are also mindful of the need to preserve the integrity of the current system and to ensure that it retains public confidence. We recognise that the British Museum is a potential purchaser of treasure finds and, at the same time, under these proposals, it will also be responsible for the administration of the system which recommends to the Secretary of State the price that museums should pay for such finds. It is because of these concerns that a number of safeguards have been built into this transfer to preserve the integrity of the system. These include: in all cases it will remain the Secretary of State’s responsibility to make decisions in relation to rewards and valuations; the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will also retain its responsibilities relating to valuation in cases where the British Museum has shown an interest in acquiring a find; appointments to the Treasure Valuation Committee will continue to be made by the Secretary of State; the right for interested parties to make representations to the Secretaryof State against the Treasure Valuation Committee’s recommendations will remain; and a detailed memorandum of understanding will be agreed between the DCMS and the British Museum. This will spell out the responsibilities of both organisations and will be available for public scrutiny. We feel confident that these safeguards will ensure that the system retains a high level of confidence among those involved that all finds are fairly valued. The code of practice needs to be amended to reflect the new procedures which will be followed once the transfer of responsibilities has taken place. A full review of the code is planned for 2007, when other proposed amendments to the treasure system will be considered. However, the last review of the code took two years to complete and it was considered that the benefits associated with this transfer were sufficiently compelling for these amendments to be made in advance of the forthcoming review. Both the principle behind the amendments to the code of practice and the amendments themselves have been consulted on. The consultation documents were sent to stakeholders, including the British Museum, the National Council for Metal Detecting and various museums and their representative bodies. All responses to the consultation were supportive of the proposed transfer of responsibilities and of the proposed amendments to the code. I beg to move. Moved, That the draft code of practice laid before the House on 20 July be approved [35th Report from the Joint Committee].—(Lord Davies of Oldham.)