Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions officials in his Department have had with organisers of commercial metal-detecting rallies in relation to (a) public safety and (b) protection of archaeology as the covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Guidance for both individual metal detectorists and organisers of events operating during the covid-19 lockdown was published on the gov.uk page Guidance on searching for archaeological finds in England during COVID-19 on 9 July 2020. The guidance points organisers to directions on operating inside and outside events and also advises organisers and finders what to do if they discover a new archaeological site. The page also directs finders and organisers to the National Council for Metal Detecting guidance on best practice when detecting.
Rallies and club events are legally permitted and take place on private property with the landowner’s consent, The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport does not currently monitor or record activities at these events.
Responsibility for reporting possible treasure finds and arranging for an export licence lies with the finder and owner of the cultural object. Guidance on reporting treasure and applying for an export licence during the present situation is included on the gov.uk pages Guidance on searching for archaeological finds in England during COVID-19 and Export art, antiques and cultural goods: special rules. Anyone not reporting a potential treasure find or not obtaining an export licence where necessary can be subject to legal sanctions.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what guidance his Department has issued to organisers of commercial metal-detecting rallies in relation to the protection of in-situ archaeology as social distancing rules are relaxed as the covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Guidance for both individual metal detectorists and organisers of events operating during the covid-19 lockdown was published on the gov.uk page Guidance on searching for archaeological finds in England during COVID-19 on 9 July 2020. The guidance points organisers to directions on operating inside and outside events and also advises organisers and finders what to do if they discover a new archaeological site. The page also directs finders and organisers to the National Council for Metal Detecting guidance on best practice when detecting.
Rallies and club events are legally permitted and take place on private property with the landowner’s consent, The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport does not currently monitor or record activities at these events.
Responsibility for reporting possible treasure finds and arranging for an export licence lies with the finder and owner of the cultural object. Guidance on reporting treasure and applying for an export licence during the present situation is included on the gov.uk pages Guidance on searching for archaeological finds in England during COVID-19 and Export art, antiques and cultural goods: special rules. Anyone not reporting a potential treasure find or not obtaining an export licence where necessary can be subject to legal sanctions.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what requirements are placed on organisers of commercial rallies to (a) report Treasure, (b) follow best practice, (c) ensure that in-situ archaeology is protected and (d) ensure that archaeological finds made on their events are lawfully exported.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Guidance for both individual metal detectorists and organisers of events operating during the covid-19 lockdown was published on the gov.uk page Guidance on searching for archaeological finds in England during COVID-19 on 9 July 2020. The guidance points organisers to directions on operating inside and outside events and also advises organisers and finders what to do if they discover a new archaeological site. The page also directs finders and organisers to the National Council for Metal Detecting guidance on best practice when detecting.
Rallies and club events are legally permitted and take place on private property with the landowner’s consent, The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport does not currently monitor or record activities at these events.
Responsibility for reporting possible treasure finds and arranging for an export licence lies with the finder and owner of the cultural object. Guidance on reporting treasure and applying for an export licence during the present situation is included on the gov.uk pages Guidance on searching for archaeological finds in England during COVID-19 and Export art, antiques and cultural goods: special rules. Anyone not reporting a potential treasure find or not obtaining an export licence where necessary can be subject to legal sanctions.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many qualified archaeologists are being deployed on survey and excavation work relating to High Speed Two construction.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The number of archaeologists required and consequently deployed will vary as the HS2 project moves forward. HS2 Ltd has estimated that they will need the skills of over 1,000 archaeologists and associated specialisms for the entire HS2 archaeology programme.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the environmental effect of restored peatland; and what steps he is taking to ban the sale of peat.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Research has shown that restored peatland achieves a variety of natural capital objectives, including carbon sequestration, water regulation and quality, optimising biodiversity, preserving archaeology, and minimising wildfire hazards. A 2019 BEIS report stated that a near natural bog can remove the equivalent of 3.54 tonnes of carbon dioxide per hectare per year, and a near natural fen can remove 5.44 tonnes of carbon dioxide per hectare per year. We are working towards reducing England’s peatland annual greenhouse gas emissions through restoration, and the Government has committed £640 million through the Nature for Climate Fund part of which will deliver 35,000 hectares of peatland restoration by 2025.
The Government also continues to be committed to phasing out the use of peat in horticulture in England. The biggest user of peat is the amateur sector and this is an important part of our policy focus. We signalled to the industry that if we have not seen sufficient movement to peat alternatives by 2020, then we would look at further measures that could be taken, and we are currently considering what these potential further measures could look like.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
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 recent easing of covid-19 lockdown restrictions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of permitting metal detecting hobbyists to return to their recreation.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
This government recognises that finds made by the public, including those found by metal-detectorists, make an immense contribution to our knowledge of the archaeology and history of Britain.
The recent easing of lockdown restrictions means that since 13th May, people have been, and are, able to enjoy metal-detecting, as long as they adhere to social distancing measures. At the moment, in England, this means that groups of up to six individuals from different households are able to meet outside to metal detect as long as they maintain 2 meters between them.
To support the hobby, the department has published guidance on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/guidance-on-searching-for-archaeological-finds-in-england-during-covid-19.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students have graduated with archaeology-based degrees in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Higher Education Statistics Agency collects and publishes statistics on enrolments and qualifications obtained at UK Higher Education Institutions. Latest statistics refer to the academic year 2017/18. Statistics on qualifications obtained by subject areas are available in Table 19 of their Open Data pages:
https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-19.
The number of first-degree qualifiers from archaeology-based subjects has been provided in the table.
Academic year | Forensic & Archaeological Sciences | Archaeology | Combined Total |
2008/09 | 1,710 | 905 | 2,615 |
2009/10 | 1,710 | 880 | 2,590 |
2010/11 | 1,755 | 900 | 2,655 |
2011/12 | 1,940 | 920 | 2,860 |
2012/13 | 1,890 | 900 | 2,790 |
2013/14 | 1,920 | 905 | 2,825 |
2014/15 | 1,570 | 750 | 2,320 |
2015/16 | 1,640 | 870 | 2,510 |
2016/17 | 1,645 | 815 | 2,460 |
2017/18 | 1,650 | 830 | 2,480 |
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on the number of qualified archaeologists required for the construction of High Speed Two.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education meets his counterparts and officials from other government departments regularly to discuss the Department for Education agenda.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the number of archaeologists required for the construction of HS2; and what discussions he has had with archaeologists' professional bodies.
Answered by Paul Maynard
HS2 Ltd estimates that over 1,000 archaeologists, period specialists, scientists and conservators will be needed to deliver the HS2 archaeology programme.
Neither myself, nor the Secretary of State, have discussed HS2 with archaeologists’ professional bodies directly. HS2 Ltd engages regularly with the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists and Historic England in relation to industry matters, including capacity and skills. This includes participating in the National Infrastructure Plan and Skills Capacity Working Group, chaired by Historic England.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what percentage of (a) religious education and (b) history lessons in state secondary schools are taught by teachers with no post A-level qualification in the subject.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In 2017, there were 118,200 hours of religious education taught in state funded secondary schools. Of these, 24.2% of hours were taught by a teacher with no relevant post A level qualification in religious education or a related subject such as philosophy. A ‘relevant post A level qualification’ is defined as a first degree or higher, Bachelor of education (BEd) degree, Postgraduate certificate of education (PGCE), Certificate of Education or another qualification at level 4 or above, which is in a discipline deemed relevant to that subject based on Joint Academic Coding System (JACS) codes.
These figures relate to all qualified teachers in state funded secondary schools
In 2017, there were 185,700 hours of history taught in state funded secondary schools. Of these, 8.8% of hours were taught by a teacher with no relevant post A level qualification in history or a related subject such as archaeology.
These figures relate to all qualified teachers in state funded secondary schools.