HL Deb 12 April 1983 vol 441 cc97-8

2.52 p.m.

Lord Jenkins of Putney

My Lords, in asking for leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, may I correct a minor error that has crept into the last line of the Question as printed on the Paper. The Question should not read, "whether they will not ratify it" but, "whether they will now ratify it".

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government why the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Cultural Property has not been ratified by the United Kingdom, and whether they will now ratify it.

Lord Belstead

Her Majesty's Government have always been in sympathy with the aims of the convention, but ratification poses administrative, legal and financial difficulties and would require legislation. The Government are still studying these difficulties.

Lord Jenkins of Putney

My Lords, not only this Government but previous Governments have studied this matter for a long time. As many other Governments have found it possible to overcome the difficulties and to ratify—including, I believe, fairly recently, the United States—do the Government not think it appropriate to examine the matter with more urgency?

Lord Belstead

My Lords, so far as urgency is concerned, the noble Lord knows very well that he was a distinguished Minister for the Arts in the previous Government and that nothing whatever was done about this matter at that time. The reason why nothing was done is that the problems are formidable.