Written question WQ89265

I take the safety of the national collection very seriously, however the care and management of collections is a matter for Amgueddfa Cymru.

My officials have had discussions with Amgueddfa Cymru, which has provided assurance the items are most likely recorded as missing because they have been misplaced, wrongly documented or come astray from their labels.

I understand that a backlog of documentation or un-catalogued objects can be a common feature of museum collections. As part of the Accreditation Scheme, museums are required to put measures in place to address this and comply with industry standard documentary procedures. Colleagues at the museum expect to recover most of these items as they work through the collection, which totals 5.3 million items.

I have asked that Amgueddfa Cymru continues to keep me updated on all matters relating to this.