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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what background checks his Department undertook on Lord Lingfield's charitable foundation before the transfer of the wreck of HMS Victory 1744.

Following the 2010 public consultation on options for the management of the wreck site of HMS Victory 1744 it was decided to place responsibility for the future management of the site on a charitable trust. The Maritime Heritage Foundation (MHF) was a newly formed charity and its objectives ‘to recover, preserve and display in public museums, to promote knowledge and understanding of our maritime heritage through educational projects' were considered to be well suited for the management of the wreck site. No additional checks were made because the MHF is a registered charity under the auspices of the Charity Commission and subject to its rules and regulations.