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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the French Government's approach to returning African cultural artefacts to their countries of origin, including the joint development of secure museums in those countries, what assessment he has had made of the potential merits of the UK adopting a similar approach to the return of artefacts held by UK museums.

The French Government is still formulating their approach to these issues, including the basis on which any African cultural artefacts might be returned to countries of origin.

Decisions about items in collections are a matter for UK museums themselves - and in the case of national museums, statutory duty lies with the board of trustees who operate independently from government.

The UK is a world leader in culture and heritage and our museums co-operate extensively with countries around the world on the circulation, promotion and protection of their collections, including capacity building programmes supporting museums development and cultural heritage protection.