Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of returning the Parthenon Sculptures to Greece (a) on loan and (b) permanently.

The Parthenon Sculptures in the British Museum are legally owned by the Trustees of the British Museum, which is operationally independent of Government. Decisions relating to the care and management of the museum's collections are a matter for the Trustees of the British Museum.

The British Museum, along with some other national museums, is prevented by law from deaccessioning objects in its collection. The British Museum has always said that it would consider any request for a loan of the sculptures to Greece – as it would any other object in its collection – as long as its normal conditions for loans are met.

The Government fully supports the position taken by the Trustees of the British Museum and has no plans to change the law.