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Housing and Regeneration Bill

I can answer the noble Lord’s question; that is very surprising, I know. The prescribed requirements that would have enabled the URA to make full use of the powers which it was granted by the 1993 Act were never made. This means that, had the URA wished to move any human remains, it would have had to rely on the provisions in the Burial Act 1857, which would have required it to obtain a faculty or licence from a bishop or a licence from the Secretary of State. We do not centrally hold records regarding these, so are unable to say whether any has ever been sought or received. That has not taken us a long way forward, but perhaps it gives us a bit of colourful background to why we cannot answer the question.