What assessment has the Minister made of how the number of Finds Liaison Officers employed in Wales compares with the number employed in England per head?
The Portable Antiquities Scheme Cymru is an important scheme that plays a critical and unique role within the broader framework supporting archaeological discoveries and heritage management in Wales.
Since 2015 the Portable Antiquities Scheme has been joint-funded by Amgueddfa Cymru, Cadw and Welsh Government’s Culture Division, and is managed by Amgueddfa Cymru.
The latest published data in the 2022 Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) annual report Portable Antiquities Annual Report 2022 (finds.org.uk) cites a total of 45 Finds Liaison Officers (FLO) in England and Wales, 40 in England and 5 in Wales. While not taking account of working patterns or the uneven distribution of finds across the country, based on current ONS population figures, this would effectively equate to one Finds Liaison Officer for every c. 1.4m people in England, and c. 621,000 in Wales.