Consultation outcome

Revising the definition of treasure in the Treasure Act 1996 and revising the related codes of practice

• From: Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
• Published: 1 February 2019
• Last updated: 4 December 2020 — See all updates

This was published under the 2016 to 2019 May Conservative government

This consultation has concluded

Read the full outcome

Revising the definition of treasure in the Treasure Act 1996 and revising the related Codes of Practice - Government response to public consultation

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Detail of outcome

The government’s response to the public consultation Revising the definition of treasure in the Treasure Act 1996 and revising the related codes of practice sets out next steps in the future of the treasure process,

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Original consultation

Summary

A consultation on proposals which would update the Treasure Act 1996 Codes of Practice, revise the Act’s definition of treasure and commence relevant provisions in the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.

This consultation ran from
12:15am on 1 February 2019 to 11:45pm on 30 April 2019

Consultation description

This consultation deals with proposed changes to the Treasure Act 1996 (‘the Act’), its associated Codes of Practice (‘the Codes’) and the process for finds that may be treasure following a review of the treasure process. The aim of the Act is to ensure that important archaeological items are preserved in public collections.

We propose to improve the treasure process so that it is more efficient, that it is focused on the aim of preserving significant finds for public collections, and that it is more rational and easier to understand. We are also keen to ensure that there is a sustainable future for the treasure process.

The aim of the consultation is to gather views on the proposed changes, and obtain information that will help us to assess the impact of these changes on groups and individuals. We also ask for opinions, suggestions and evidence which will support the development of future policies on the Act, the Codes and the treasure process.

Please Note

When replying by email or written response, please follow the instructions for emails on pages 9 and 10 of the consultation document. If you do not include all the information requested, including the declaration on the Disclosure of Responses statement your response will be rendered invalid, in which case your consultation response may not be considered.

Update: 28 March 2019

The advice on responding to the consultation on page 9 of the consultation document states that there is a word limit of 250 words in the response sheet.

Following comments we have looked at the response sheet and revised it so that the text for each answer is now 1250 characters (including spaces). This makes the response sheet consistent with the online consultation. The revised sheet can be found below.

We will write to respondents who have already replied using the response sheet, enclosing the new sheet. They can re-submit their response. If they choose not to, their original reply will remain as part of the consultation response.

Documents

Consultation on the revision of the definition of treasure in the Treasure Act 1996 and the related codes of practice

PDF, 389 KB, 48 pages

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Published 1 February 2019
Last updated 4 December 2020 + show all updates

1. 4 December 2020

   Published the government response to the public consultation.

2. 28 March 2019

   Update notifying new and current respondents that character limit in response boxes has increased. Added new response form in line with above.

3. 1 February 2019

   First published.