Official Statistics

Annex A: Background Information

Published 3 February 2021

Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales

1. Treasure Finds is an Official Statistic and as such has been produced to the professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Official Statistics undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure they meet customer needs and are produced free from any political interference. See the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice for more information.

2. The data presented here are collected by the Portable Antiquities and Treasure section, Department of Portable Antiquities & Treasure, and recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

3. The Treasure Act 1996 replaced the common law of Treasure Trove in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This has been further supplemented by the 2002 Treasure (Designation) Order. The Treasure Act sets out the definition of treasure, which includes the metallic composition required for a find to qualify as treasure and it extends the definition of treasure to include other objects found in archaeological association with finds of treasure. The Act confirms that treasure vests in the Crown, or the franchisee if there is one, subject to prior interests and rights. It simplifies the task of coroners in determining whether or not a find is treasure and it includes an offence of non-declaration of treasure. Lastly, it states that occupiers and landowners will have the right to be informed of finds of treasure from their land and that they will be eligible for rewards.

4. The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) was established by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in 1997 to record archaeological finds found by the public. It also has an important educational role, enabling children and adults alike to learn about archaeology, get involved and bring the past to life. The work of the Scheme is managed by the British Museum and guided by the Portable Antiquities Advisory Group which advises on issues relating to portable antiquities. There is no requirement by the Treasure Act to present statistics on the PAS before Parliament. This administrative data series is continuously updated and available at the Portable Antiquities Scheme website. The PAS has been a key factor in the success of the Treasure Act and the large increase in reported treasure finds. Through working with metal detecting groups and others, the Scheme’s Finds Liaison Officers (FLOs) are able to explain the system of treasure reporting and encourage detectorists and others to report their finds.

5. If an item reported to the Coroner appears to meet the definition of treasure, but no museum expresses an interest in acquiring it, the Crown’s interest is disclaimed following the procedures set out in paragraphs 48-52 of the Code of Practice. In this process, the treasure registry at the British Museum writes to the relevant Coroner to inform them of the Crown’s disclaimer and the Coroner will (normally) not hold an inquest but will write to the landowner to give them an opportunity to object to the return of the find to the finder (an objection is very rarely received). The case is then ‘closed’ without an inquest being held. However, if a museum indicates an interest in acquiring a find which appears to meet the definition of Treasure, the treasure registry at the British Museum will ask the Coroner to hold an inquest. If the conclusion of the inquest is that the find is ‘Treasure’, then title formally vests in the Crown. If, subsequent to the inquest, the museum decides to withdraw its interest, and no other museums wishes to step in and acquire the find, then the secretary of state in effect ‘disclaims’ the Crown’s interest and the treasure registry at the British Museum writes to the landowner/finder following the same principles as the Coroner would for a find prior to inquest.

6. Metal detection participation estimates were produced from data collected in the 2019/20 Taking Part Survey. For more information about the Taking Part Survey, including quality and technical information please see the Taking Part web page. In brief, the Taking Part survey randomly samples adults, youths and children across England and involves a face-to-face interview where participants are asked a series of questions about their engagement in cultural activities. One of the questions asked to all adults (16+) was ‘In the last 12 months, have you participated in metal detecting?’ to which participants can answer either ‘yes’, ’no’, or ‘don’t know’. Since only a sample of adults in England is randomly selected for the survey and answer this question, the results we present are an estimate of the population. The upper and lower bounds presented in the data tables show the range of values in which our estimate would be 95% of the time, if we selected repeated random samples. Having a small number of respondents for any question leads to a larger range of values in which we are confident the true population average lies.

7. The responsible statistician for this release is Aleister Skinner. For enquiries on this release please contact evidence@culture.gov.uk. For general enquiries please contact enquiries@culture.gov.uk.

8. The next release of data is scheduled for November 2021 and will include finalised treasure finds data for 2019 and provisional data for 2020.

9. DCMS will be commissioning a research project to consider the implications of introducing a significance based definition of treasure. Any change to the definition will be implemented to stats going forward, and therefore a break in the time series may be required. Further information on the scale of this change will be provided in future releases.

10. All values are rounded to their nearest whole number