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

Information, Warwick District Council

Dear Maciej Wójtowicz,

Thank you for your request for information which I acknowledge was received by the District Council on 7 December 2018

Your request is currently being considered. If the District Council is able to provide you with the information you have requested, then under the Freedom of Information Act you are entitled to receive it within 20 working days.

For your information, the FOI Act defines a number of exemptions which may prevent release of some or all of the information you have requested. The District Council will assess your information request in light of the exemptions. If exemptions do apply, then the District Council may decide not to release all, or part, of the information you have requested. You will be informed if this is the case.

If the information you request contains reference to a third party then they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken by the District Council as to whether to release the information to you. You will be kept informed if this is the case.

The District Council will not charge a fee to provide you with the information you have requested, provided the cost of dealing with your request is less than £450. If it appears likely that your request will cost more than £450 to deal with then I will write to you again asking if you are willing to pay the fees incurred, and setting out clearly what those fees will be, in accordance with the FOI Act.

If you have any queries or should you wish to make a complaint about the manner in which your request is being dealt with then please do not hesitate to contact me at the above address in the first instance. Any complaints will be dealt with under the Council’s corporate complaints procedure.

Further information about your rights under the Freedom of Information Act, is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office (0303 123 1113) or on their website www.ico.org.uk, and on the District Council’s website.

Yours sincerely
Mia Matthews

Corporate Support Team
Warwick District Council
Riverside House
Milverton Hill
Royal Leamington Spa
CV32 5HZ
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Graham Leach, Warwick District Council

Dear Maciej,

I apologies for the delay in responding to your request but I can confirm that within our Museum Service we hold no remains that are under 1000 years old.

Regards

Graham Leach
Democratic Services Manager and
Deputy Monitoring Officer
 
Democratic Services, Warwick District Council, Riverside House,
Milverton Hill, Royal Leamington Spa, CV32 5HZ
 
Tel: 01926 456114  www.warwickdc.gov.uk
 
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