§ Mr. Masonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish details of the amount expended on publicly funded archaeology; what has been achieved for the outlay; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneThe Department of the Environment is responsible in England for the conservation of 400 ancient monuments in DOE care. The Department also gives advice and aid in the conservation of the 12,000 scheduled monuments in local authority or other ownership. The DOE's inspectorate of ancient monuments provides the archaeological input to this work. The inspectorate's total staff costs—including the ancient monuments laboratory, the DOE's central excavation unit and non-archaeological work on historic buildings—were £425,000 in 1981–82. The inspectorate also supervises a programme of rescue archaeology by helping to fund projects in which regional units run by various bodies make archaeological investigations and records of nationally-important sites threatened with development. DOE grants towards these projects in 1981–82 totalled £4½320W million. What is achieved from the outlay is the preservation of the historical and archaeological environment either by preservation and protection in situ or by publication of excavation reports and storage of archives.