Dear Sir or Madam

REPATRIATION OF HUMAN REMAINS

I am carrying out some research into the storage, retention and repatriation of non-European ethnological human remains held in UK museums. To assist with this could you please let me have the following information under the Freedom of Information Act. All of these questions relate to human remains that are under 1,000 years of age:

1. How many non-European human remains do you have in your collection? If you do not have the exact number, then please provide an approximation based on your normal method of counting.

2. How many requests for the repatriation of non-European human remains did you receive from communities, individuals or institutions outside of Europe prior to the Human Tissue Act 2004 coming into force? Of these how many were approved?

3. How many requests for the repatriation of human remains have you had from communities, individuals or institutions outside of Europe since the Human Tissue Act 2004 came into force?

4. Of these requests, how many were:
a. Approved in full, with all of the requested remains being returned to the communities/individuals in question.
b. Approved in part with some of the requested remains being returned.
c. Not approved.
d. Still awaiting a decision.

5. For those requests which were not approved please provide a copy of the final decision letter setting out the reasons.

Thanking you in advance for your assistance in this matter.

Yours faithfully

Maciej Wójtowicz