§ The Earl of Cork and Orreryasked Her Majesty's Government:
What recent initiatives 'they have taken at the Geneva Conference on Disarmament over a comprehensive nuclear test ban.
§ Lord TrefgarneOn 11th July the British delegation to the conference tabled a working paper onSeismic Monitoring for a Comprehensive Test Ban. A copy will be placed in the Library. The paper describes techniques for detecting and identifying seismic signals emitted by nuclear explosions, and relates these issues to the verification of a total ban on such explosions. We trust this working paper will make a helpful contribution to discussion within the Conference on
Officer strengths in MOD HQ Total OF-8 OF-7 OF-6 OF-5 OF-4 ALL SERVICES 1983 1408 12 85 112 368 831 1984 1414 11 82 111 371 839 1985 1392 9 73 109 368 833 ROYAL NAVY 1983 (31 March) 430 5 21 11 120 273 1984 (31 March) 415 4 19 13 110 269 1985 (31 March) 443 3 16 11 117 296 ROYAL MARINES 1983 (31 March) 20 1 1 8 10 1984 (31 March) 22 1 2 5 14 1985 (31 March) 17 1 1 7 8 ARMY 1983 (31 May) 492 46 58 131 257 1984 (31 May) 518 44 54 147 273 1985 (31 May) 512 39 56 150 267 ROYAL AIR FORCE 1983 (31 May) 466 6 17 43 109 291 1984 (31 May) 459 6 17 44 109 283 1985 (31 May) 420 5 17 42 94 262 Notes (1) The figures are grouped according to NATO ranks. A note of the service equivalent ranks is attached. (2) All figures are for male and female officers by paid rank. (3) The figures are for 31st May in each case (being the closest date to 1st June for which the information is available) except for the RN and RM figures where information for 31st May is unavailable; figures for 31st March are shown instead. (4) Certain ranks are combined—Brigadiers, Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels in the RM are included in OF-5 and Lieutenant Generals and Major Generals are combined in the Army OF-7 figures. (5) The numbers quoted include officers on hand-over and short term studies. 854WA
NATO RANKS—UNITED KINGDOM SERVICE EQUIVALENTS RN RM ARMY RAF OF-8 Vice Admiral Lt General Lt General Air Marshal OF-7 Rear Admiral Maj General Maj General Air Vice Marshal OF-6 Commodore Brigadier Brigadier Air Commodore OF-5 Captain Col/Lt Col Colonel Group Captain OF-4 Commander Major Lt Colonel Wing Commander Disarmament of unresolved technical issues which stand in the way of progress towards a verifiable comprehensive test ban.