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Military Training
Mr. Jon Owen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what type of projects and programmes constitute the United Kingdom military training assistance scheme. [31110]
Mr. David Davis: The military training assistance scheme sponsors developmental and skills training in the UK. This can include training which has a main or subsidiary aim of familiarising participants with British military techniques and equipment. It also provides for in-country developmental and skills training by UK trainers on attachments overseas, the training of nationals from several countries at regional centres, and sponsorship of participants in courses operated by organisations such as the United Nations.
Mr. Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which Governments fund the United Kingdom military training assistance scheme; and in what proportions. [31112]
Mr. Davis: UKMTAS is entirely funded by Her Majesty's Government.
Mr. Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many police officers from other countries have received training under the United Kingdom military training assistance scheme.[31111]
Mr. Davis: Full details are available only from 1990. Since then, some 179 police officers from overseas countries have attended training courses in the UK sponsored by the scheme.
Mr. Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was the cost to public funds of the United Kingdom military training assistance scheme for each year since its inception.[31109]
Mr. Davis: The scheme has been operating in its current form since 1988. Annual financial year expenditure is:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1988-89 | 13.2 |
| 1989-90 | 15.5 |
| 1990-91 | 18.1 |
| 1991-92 | 15.2 |
| 1992-93 | 12.5 |
| 1993-94 | 11.8 |
| 1994-95 | 12.0 |
| 1995-96 | (1)13.5 |
(1) Estimate.
Mr. Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the countries which have received training of police officers under the United Kingdom military training assistance scheme.[31113]
Mr. Davis: In recent years officers from the following police forces have received training sponsored by the scheme:
Belize, Chile, Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Fiji, Honduras, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lebanon, Malaysia, Malta, Nepal, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Palestinian Authority, Philippines, Romania, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Tonga, Uganda and Vanuatu.
6 Jun 1996 : Column: 518
European Union Flag
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what instructions were issued to his Department's offices and agencies in respect of flying the European Union flag on 8 May; and if he will make a statement. [31505]
Kashmir
Mr. Madden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when elections are scheduled to take place in Azad Kashmir to elect a new Government; if he will arrange for United Kingdom observers to monitor those elections; and if he will make a statement. [31466]
Mr. David Davis: Legislative assembly elections will be held on 30 June. Staff from our High Commission in Islamabad will visit Azad Kashmir during the elections.
DEFENCE
Porton Down
Mr. Livingstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) by what methods the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment is currently monitoring the health of the service volunteers who took part in studies at the establishment with the nerve agent pre-treatment sets; [31347]
- (2) when the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment carried out studies to evaluate whether nerve agent pre-treatment sets caused long-term health effects in humans; and what were the conclusions of these studies. [31346]
Mr. Arbuthnot: These matters are for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive, DERA, to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Johm Chisholm to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 6 June 1996:
6 Jun 1996 : Column: 519
I have been asked to reply to your questions about studies into the long term health effects on humans and the monitoring of the health Service volunteers who took part in studies with the Nerve Agent Pre-treatment Sets (NAPS). I am replying to both questions in this letter as Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), which now includes the Chemical and Biological Defence Sector (CBD) in its Protection and Life Sciences division (PLSD).
There have not been any studies directly undertaken by CBD Sector, Porton Down, to assess long term health effects on humans of the administration of NAPS tablets and no monitoring of the health of volunteers who took part in studies involving the administration of NAPS is currently being conducted. The active ingredient of NAPS tablets is pyridostigmine bromide, which is licensed for use in the clinical treatment of myasthenia gravis. Adults with this complaint take dosages far in excess of that found in NAPS tablets over extended periods, in some cases for life. There are no indications that these high doses over long period of time give rise to long term health effects.
I hope this information is helpful.
Mr. Livingstone:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 9 May, Official Report, columns 223-24, if Porton Down has used service personnel from the service volunteers programme in work which Porton Down has carried out for civilian organisations since 1996; and what has been Porton Down's policy on involving service volunteers in work for civilian organisations. [31349]
Mr. Arbuthnot: This is a matter for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive, DERA, to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 6 June 1996:
Mr. Livingstone:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what studies have been carried out by the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment to evaluate the long-term health effects of short-term exposure to the nerve agent Soman (GD); when these studies were carried out; and what were their conclusions.[31341]
I have been asked to reply to your question asking whether Service volunteers have been used in work carried out by Porton Down for civilian organisations. The Chemical Biological Defence Sector (CBD) at Porton Down is now part of the Protection and Life Sciences division (PLSD) of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) for which I am responsible as Chief Executive.
No Service volunteers have been involved in work carried out by Porton Down for civilian organisations since 1966. The purpose of the Service volunteer programme is to ensure that any protective measures proposed by CBD Sector are acceptable from a military point of view and therefore it would not be appropriate to involve Service volunteers in work which was not directly relevant to military situations. Moreover, the independent ethics Committee which reviews all protocols for work with volunteers must satisfy itself that there is a military justification for the work before it approves a protocol and no such work can be started until the ethics Committee's approval has been received.
I hope this information is helpful.
Mr. Arbuthnot: This is a matter for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive, DERA, to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 6 June 1996:
Mr. Livingstone:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 8 May, Official Report, column 187, what was the amount of sarin to which volunteers were exposed in the study using single fibre electromyography. [31342]
I have been asked to reply to you question concerning studies involving the nerve agent Soman. The Chemical Biological Defence Sector (CBD) at Porton Down is now part of the Protection and Life Sciences division (PLSD) of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) for which I am responsible as Chief Executive.
No studies have been conducted to evaluate long term health effects on volunteers exposed to Soman. The only study carried out by CBD Sector specifically to investigate the long term effects of short term exposure to Soman examined the effects on mouse diaphragm muscle. The study indicated that subtle changes were observed in tissue 3 days after exposure to Soman. However, there was no observable difference in response between exposed and unexposed tissue 28 days after exposure. The findings of the study were published in the Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology in 1993 (Volume 45, pages 176-181).
I hope this information is helpful.
6 Jun 1996 : Column: 520
Mr. Arbuthnot: This is a matter for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive, DERA, to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 6 June 1996:
Mr. Livingstone:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which division within the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment has had overall responsibility for running the service volunteers programme since 1966. [31343]
I have been asked to reply to your further question about the single fibre electromyography study. The Chemical Biological Defence Sector (CBD) at Porton Down is now part of the Protection and Life Sciences division (PLSD) of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) for which I am responsible as Chief Executive.
In this study Service volunteers breathed in Sarin nerve agent vapour whilst walking in an exposure chamber at Porton Down. The Sarin was present at a concentration of 0.5mg m 3 and the volunteers were exposed for 30 minutes. The results of this study have now been reported in the open literature and can be found in the journal "Human and Experimental Toxicology" (1996) Volume 15, pages 369-75.
I hope this information is helpful.
Mr. Arbuthnot: This is a matter for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive, DERA, to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 6 June 1996:
Mr. Livingstone:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 9 May, Official Report, column 222, for what reasons staff at Porton Down are not allowed to test chemical agents on themselves; and how many staff have deviated from the policy on self-testing since 1966. [31344]
I have been asked to reply to your question about responsibility for running the Service volunteer programme at the Chemical and Biological Establishment since 1966. The Chemical Biological Defence Sector (CBD) at Porton Down is now part of the Protection and Life Sciences division (PLSD) of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) for which I am responsible as Chief Executive.
In the period from 1966 to 1995 the Medical Division of the former Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment had overall responsibility for administering the Service volunteer programme. The responsibilities included co-ordination of the requests for volunteers to participate in studies, conducting medical examinations, providing medical supervision of studies, maintaining the records of volunteer attendance and liaison with military authorities. Since the internal reorganisation that was prompted by the move of CBDE into the DERA trading fund in 1995 these duties have been discharged by the Medical Countermeasures business centre.
I hope this information is helpful.
Mr. Arbuthnot: This is a matter for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive, DERA, to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 6 June 1996:
6 Jun 1996 : Column: 521
I have been asked to reply to your further question about self experimentation by staff at Porton Down. The Chemical Biological Defence Sector (CBD) at Porton Down is now part of the Protection and Life Sciences division (PLSD) of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) for which I am responsible as Chief Executive.
Mr. Livingstone:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 9 May, Official Report, column 223, what details of experiments are given on request to the doctors of service personnel who took part in the service volunteers programme at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment in cases where the service personnel have died. [31345]
Staff at Porton Down are not allowed to test chemical agents on themselves because this would not be consistent with the proper ethical control, oversight and experimental design required for work of this nature. The scientific value of such studies would be very limited. We are not aware of any formal studies since 1966 which deviated from this policy.
I hope this information is helpful.
Mr. Arbuthnot: This is a matter for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive, DERA, to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 6 June 1996:
Mr. Livingstone:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment carried out experiments with service volunteers involving the nerve agent GE; and what were the conclusions of this work. [31348]
I have been asked to reply to your question concerning information provided to the doctors of deceased volunteers at the former Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment (CBDE). The Chemical Biological Defence Sector (CBD) at Porton Down is now part of the Protection and Life Sciences division (PLSD) of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) for which I am responsible as Chief Executive.
To date we have not received any enquiries from the doctors of deceased former volunteers. If we were to be approached by a doctor acting on behalf of relatives in such circumstances we would provide them with the same information as if the patient was still living.
I hope this information is helpful.
Mr. Arbuthnot: This is a matter for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive, DERA, to write to the hon. Member.
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