§ Mr. Jim Spicerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will ensure that the establishment of the Commission for Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings does not lead to any decrease in the importance placed upon rescue archaeology or in the likely level of funding for rescue archaeology and those archaeological units involved.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneThe Government do not intend that the establishment of the commission should mean any140W decrease in the importance placed on rescue archaeology, or in the likely level of funding for it. The work carried out at present by the DOE, through the inspectorate, the ancient monuments laboratory and the central excavation unit, will continue within the commission. The important and complementary roles of local archaeological units and other expert local bodies will also continue. The Government believe that the commission will be best able, as the central focus of heritage work, to co-ordinate these activities and to carry them forward effectively in future.