Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the likelihood of other countries asking for elements of the herbarium at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, to be repatriated in the event of a move to the Thames Valley Science Park.

No final funding decision has been made in relation to the new herbarium.

Kew Trustees do not have the power to give away or otherwise dispose of any object vested in them and comprised in the collection except under very limited circumstances as prescribed in their governing instrument, the National Heritage Act 1983. Kew is working at pace to digitise the estimated 7 million herbarium specimens by 2026/7 in order that they will be immediately and freely available online to researchers worldwide. Physical specimens will remain accessible at the Kew Herbarium regardless of location.