Repatriation of human remains

The request was successful.

Maciej Wójtowicz

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 regional museums or archives some of which are owned, managed or funded by UK local authorities.

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. If your organisation is not covered by the Freedom of Information Act please consider supporting this research anyway and providing the information voluntarily. A link to the research will be provided to all contributers when it is published:

1. How many non-European human remains do you have in your collection or collections managed by organisations which you fund or control? If you do not have the exact number then please provide an approximation based on your normal method of counting.

2. How many human remains do you have in your collection which originated in:
a. Canada
b. New Zealand
c. Australia

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.

6. How many human remains have you repatriated to their country of origin proactively without receiving a request?

Thanking you in advance for your assistance with this important research project which should help to reconnect numerous Indigenous communities with their lost ancestors.

Yours faithfully

Maciej Wójtowicz

LBS FOI, Sutton Borough Council

Dear Maciej Wójtowicz,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST - REF NO
- F13292 (please quote in correspondence)
I acknowledge your request for information received on 10/12/2018 relating
to Repatriation of human remains.
Your request is being considered and, if it is held, you will receive the
information requested within the statutory timescale of 20 working days as
defined by the Freedom of Information Act 2000, subject to the information
not being exempt or containing a reference to a third party.
If appropriate, the information may be provided in paper copy, normal font
size.  If you require alternative formats, e.g. language, audio, large
print, etc. then please let us know.
For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions which may
prevent release of the information you have requested.  There will be an
assessment and if any of the exemption categories apply then the
information will not be released.  You will be informed if this is the
case, including your rights of appeal.
If the information you request contains reference to a third party then
they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken on whether or not to
release the information to you.  You will be informed if this is the case.
A fee may be payable for this information.  This will be considered and
you will be informed if a fee is payable.  In this event the fee must be
paid before the information is processed and released.  The 20 working day
time limit is suspended until receipt of the payment.
Please be advised that in line with London Borough of Sutton's commitment
to transparency, in due course an anonymous copy of your request and our
response may be published on our website.
Yours sincerely,
FOI Admin Officer 
London Borough of Sutton

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LBS Ad Support, Sutton Borough Council

Dear Maciej Wójtowicz

I refer to your request for information received on 10/12/2018 concerning
Repatriation of human remains.

Sutton Council has no non-European human remains in its collection or
collections managed by organisations which we fund.

If you are unhappy with the way in which your request has been handled you
have the right to ask for an internal review.  Please notify us in writing
as soon as possible with the grounds upon which you feel the appeal is
justified to: [1][Sutton Borough Council request email] or by post to Customer Care and
Improvement Team, Civic Offices, St Nicholas Way, Sutton, Surrey, SM1 1EA.

We aim to respond to you within 20 working days of receiving your request.
If it is going to take longer we will let you know.

Should you still be dissatisfied with the outcome you have the right to
refer to the Information Commissioner: Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF[2]www.ico.org.uk

Yours sincerely

Jan Underhill

Executive Head of Wellbeing

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On Mon, 10 Dec 2018 at 15:08, LBS FOI <[3][Sutton Borough Council request email]> wrote:

Dear Maciej Wójtowicz,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST - REF NO
- F13292 (please quote in correspondence)
I acknowledge your request for information received on
10/12/2018 relating to Repatriation of human remains.
Your request is being considered and, if it is held, you will receive
the information requested within the statutory timescale of 20 working
days as defined by the Freedom of Information Act 2000, subject to the
information not being exempt or containing a reference to a third party.
If appropriate, the information may be provided in paper copy, normal
font size.  If you require alternative formats, e.g. language, audio,
large print, etc. then please let us know.
For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions which may
prevent release of the information you have requested.  There will be an
assessment and if any of the exemption categories apply then the
information will not be released.  You will be informed if this is the
case, including your rights of appeal.
If the information you request contains reference to a third party then
they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken on whether or not
to release the information to you.  You will be informed if this is the
case.
A fee may be payable for this information.  This will be considered and
you will be informed if a fee is payable.  In this event the fee must be
paid before the information is processed and released.  The 20 working
day time limit is suspended until receipt of the payment.
Please be advised that in line with London Borough of Sutton's
commitment to transparency, in due course an anonymous copy of your
request and our response may be published on our website.
Yours sincerely,
FOI Admin Officer 
London Borough of Sutton

show quoted sections