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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress has been made on ratifying the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Heritage.

Government remains committed to considering the results of the 2014 Impact Review on the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, in order to assess whether the UK should pursue ratification. A decision on timescales for reviewing the Convention will be made in late Spring 2017. Government has already adopted the Rules for activities directed at underwater cultural heritage, found in the annex of the Convention, as best practice.