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Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who are the members currently appointed to the meteorological research sub-committee.
Mr. Hanley [holding answer 28 January 1994] : The information requested is as follows :
Professor H. Charnock
Professor B. Fender
Professor J. Harries
Professor A. Hollingsworth
Professor B. Hoskins
Dr. M. Vaughan
Dr. J. Woods
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who are the members currently appointed to the Services Sound and Vision Corporation.
Mr. Hanley [holding answer 28 January 1994] : The members are : General Sir Geoffrey Howlett, KBE, MC
David E. Hatch, JP, MA, DipEd, FRSA, CIMgt (Vice Chair)
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Brian Tesler, CBEFrederick P. Turner
Dr. Bryce McCrirrick, CBE, DSc, FEng, FIEE, FRTS
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who are the members currently appointed to the oil and pipelines agency.
Mr. Hanley [holding answer 28 January 1994] : The information requested is as follows :
Geoffrey Richards (Chairman)
Christopher Finch
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who are the members currently appointed to the meteorological committees.
Mr. Hanley [holding answer 28 January] : The information requested is as follows :
Professor R. L. Bell
Mr. D. A. Davis
Mr. D. Filkin
Ms A. Gammidge
Professor B. J. Hoskins
Dr. H. Hughes
Baroness Jay
Professor M. H. Pesaran
Baroness Platt
Mr. C. M. Stuart
Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who are the members currently appointed to the board of the Royal Navy submarine museum, Gosport.
Mr. Hanley [holding answer 28 January 1994] : The information requested is as follows :
Mr. D. Patch
Mr. R. D. Wilson
Dr. Robert Bud
Mrs. P. L. Lee BA
Captain R. Channon RN (Retd)
Rear Admiral A. J. Whetsone CB
Captain G. C. W. Hayhoe RN (Retd)
Commander G. Turner RN (Retd)
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who are the members currently appointed to the board of the Royal Marines museum, Southsea.
Mr. Hanley [holding answer 28 January 1994] :
Mr. Brian Ashby
Mr. Barrie C. Johnston OBE FPMI FRSA
Mr. Nick Sonas DL
Mr. Derek J. Martin
Mr. Nigel S. E. Martin
Mr. Michael N. E. Ware FRPS FMA
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who are the members currently appointed to the board of the Fleet Air Arm museum.
Mr. Hanley [holding answer 28 January 1994] : The board of trustees as established by the trust deed and subsequent amending scheme consists of :
Mr. Michael Cobham
Mr. Desmond Cracknell
Sir Donald Gosling
Sir Stanley Grinstead
Mr. Jeffrey Smith
Doctor Thomas Wright
Dame Margaret Weston
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The trustees meet twice a year mainly to review and approve the strategic plan. The director exercises day-to-day management under the aegis of the management committee of the chairman, deputy chairman, director, deputy director and museum administrator.Market Testing
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what additional non-operational staff have been taken on by his Department to execute the new objective of market testing as set out at paragraph 3 of his Department's annual report and expenditure plans 1994-95 to 1996-97, Cm 2501.
Mr. Aitken : Up to 30 additional staff are being recruited on fixed- term appointments for a variety of contract duties. Eight have been appointed.
Additionally, two industrial advisers have been seconded for a period of one year.
Appraisal Strategy
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what appraisal strategy he has set in place to monitor the effectiveness of his achieving availability, reliability and maintainability standards, as set out at paragraph 59 of his departmental annual report, Cm 2501.
Mr. Aitken : A comprehensive data collection system is being implemented in each of the services, to monitor the effectiveness of achieving availability, reliability and maintainability standards.
Green Matters (Responsibility)
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which departmental Minister is responsible for reporting to the House on green matters within his Department.
Mr. Hanley : My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence is responsible for environmental matters within the Department. I answer to the House on his behalf.
Indonesia
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what investigations he has made into the assertion by Mr. B. J. Habibie, director of Indonesia's armaments procurement programme, to assure himself that the Hawk jets bought from British Aerospace last year by Indonesia will be used for ground attack purposes.
Mr. Aitken : We have received assurances from the Indonesian Government that the Hawk aircraft will not be used for internal security.
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what evaluation he has made of the use to which Hawk jets sold to Indonesia by British Aerospace last year have been put. Mr.Aitken : The Hawkes purchased by Indonesia last year have not yet been delivered.
Chemical Weapons Testing Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what follow-up has been conducted in the last 10 years by his Department as to the long-term health effects
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arising from experiments conducted on service men from RAF Kinloss in the 1950s at the Porton Down chemical warfare establishment to establish antidotes to chemical warfare agents.Mr. Hanley : This is a matter for the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Graham Pearson to Mr. Llew Smith, 17 March 1994 : Parliamentary Question 29, Order Paper 9 March 1994
1. Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence, asking what follow up has been conducted in the last 10 years by his Department as to the long term health effects arising from studies conducted on servicemen from RAF Kinloss in the 1950s at the Porton Down to develop antidotes to chemical warfare agents has been passed to me to reply as Chief Executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment.
2. The role of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment is to ensure that the United Kingdom Armed Forces have effective protective measures against the threat that chemical or biological weapons may be used against them. In order to carry out this work, it is necessary to use service volunteers to :
(a) assess the ability of service personnel to function with new equipment and procedures,
(b) develop medical countermeasures to protect Service personnel and
(c) evaluate the effects of very low and medically safe concentrations of CW agents on the ability of unprotected personnel to operate normally.
No studies involving volunteers are carried out unless there is a clear military need and a detailed protocol has been reviewed and approved by an independent Ethics Committee in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Royal College of Physicians.
3. The procedure in respect of Service volunteers is that on arrival at CBDE each volunteer is given a medical examination to see if they are fit for the proposed study. The nature of the study is explained to them and they are told that they may withdraw from the study without any explanation at any stage. At the end of the study they are given a second medical examination and the fact that they have participated at CBDE in a volunteer study is recorded on their medical records.
4. From time to time, Service volunteers have been recalled so that checks on their medical health can be made. There is no particular frequency or pattern to such recalls. In addition some volunteers return voluntarily to CBDE to take part in subsequent unrelated studies. There is no evidence that Service volunteers have had any deterioration in their health as a result of their participation as a volunteer in a human study.
5. Our records are not collated in such a way as to allow us to readily identify volunteers from RAF Kinloss in the 1950s. There has been no particular reason to carry out a follow up in respect of these volunteers and none has been carried out.
Mr. Livingstone : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what studies and tests have been done by the chemical warfare establishment at Porton Down to assess a nerve agent which penetrates skin and clothes quicker than the G agents and VX ; when these experiments were done ; and what was the conclusion of the assessment.
Mr. Hanley [pursuant to his reply, 26 January 1994, c. 305] : I have asked the chief executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment to write a further letter to the hon. Member. Letter from G. Pearson to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 17 March 1994 :
PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION 22, ORDER PAPER
18 JANUARY 1994
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1. Further to my answer (Official Record, 26 January 1994, Column 305) to your question about agents which penetrate skin and clothing quicker than the G-agents and VX, my attention has been drawn to a report available in the Public Records Office about work carried out at this Establishment in the early 1960s. This work was to seek organophosphorus anticholinesterases which have the chemical and physical properties likely to make them more effective agents than GB and VX eg compounds which may penetrate human skin more rapidly. The information provided in the report does not provide the additional information that you sought on when these experiments were done and what was the conclusion of the assessment ; it would require a disproportionate amount of effort and cost to see if this information is available elsewhere.2. The role of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment is to ensure that the UK Armed Forces have effective protective measures against the threat that chemical or biological weapons may be used by an aggressor against them. This work necessitates the study of potential chemical and biological agents that might be used by an aggressor so that the effectiveness of the available protective measures can be evaluated against potential agents and, where appropriate, the protective measures improved.
3. Work is currently being carried out, and has been for many years, to examine the potential hazard from chemical compounds that might be used as a chemical warfare agent by an aggressor ; such compounds may be identified through intelligence or as a result of advances in chemistry.
4. In my answer of 26 January 1994, I said that our records did not indicate that any tests or studies had been carried out to assess a nerve agent which penetrates skin and clothing quicker than the G-agents and VX. When a parliamentary question concerning work on a particular subject is asked, information is sought from all readily available sources which include the library at CBDE to see if there are any reports on the subject, and the Superintendents of the Divisions at CBDE in which such work is being or may have been carried out, who in turn make enquiries of their senior staff. If these searches reveal no information I then reply stating that our records do not indicate any work into this subject.
5. It would require a disproportionate amount of effort and cost, every time a Parliamentary Question is asked, to initiate a search into the past records at the Public Record Office or elsewhere to see if there was information on a particular subject. We need to concentrate on providing the UK Armed Forces with effective protective measures against the current hazards should chemical or biological weapons be used against them wherever they may serve worldwide.
6. The report from the Public Record Office also refers to other materials that have been the subject of parliamentary questions. I will write further letters as soon as the newly available information has been considered.
Green Forces"
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many copies of his departmental video "Green Forces" have been produced ; at what cost ; to whom they have been distributed ; and what arrangements exist to obtain a copy of the video for hon. Members.
Mr. Hanley : Some 2,750 copies of the video "Green Forces" have been produced for free distribution, on request, to schools, colleges, libraries, other national and international organisations with an interest in environmental issues, and members of the public. To date, production, copying, marketing and distribution costs amount to some £94,000, excluding VAT. Two copies of "Green Forces" are being placed in the Library of the House. Hon. Members can also obtain a copy of the video by writing to the head of publicity, room 0384, Main building, Whitehall, London SW1A 2HB.
Crown Immunity
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list those facilities where his Department has invoked Crown immunity or defence exception for (a)
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national security or (b) operational effectiveness to override routine compliance with United Kingdom environmental legislation, as mentioned in general terms at paragraph 79 of his departmental annual report and expenditure plans for 1994-95 to 1996- 97.Mr. Hanley : Following the enactment of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, there have been no instances where MOD has formally invoked Crown immunity or defence exemptions to justify non-compliance with the requirements of the Act or other United Kingdom environmental legislation to regulatory authorities. A statement of MOD policy in respect of its exemptions from the health and statutory nuisance provisions of part III of the Act has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
RAF Machrihanish
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list by year for the last four years, and this year to date (a) the number of times RAF Machrihanish was used by the United States navy maritime patrol aircraft assigned to Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic ; and what were the type and make of aircraft.
Mr. Hanley : The total number of times RAF Machrihanish was used by the United States maritime patrol aircraft since 1 July 1990 is as follows :
|Number
-------------------------------------------------
From 1 July to 31 December 1991<1> |31
1991 |80
1992 |103
1993 |103
1 January to 28 February 1994 |0
<1> Detailed records before 1 July 1990 no
longer available.
The type and make of aircraft involved were the Lockheed P3 Orion and the Lockheed S3 Viking.
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