HC Deb 23 February 1988 vol 128 cc121-2W
Ms. Ruddock

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much time has been spent by arms control officials in his Department on work specifically relating to naval arms control during the last six months.

Mr. Mellor

It is not possible to quantify separately the time devoted by FCO officials to different arms control issues. However, naval matters constitute one aspect of their work.

Ms. Ruddock

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list any naval arms control proposals put forward by the Government during the last 10 years.

Mr. Mellor

A bilateral agreement was concluded with the Soviet Union in 1986 on preventing incidents at sea. The text of this agreement was laid in the House as Command Paper No. 57 in January 1987.

Ms. Ruddock

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what naval arms control measures he is putting forward in response to Mr. Gorbachev's statement in October 1987 that nuclear weapons should be withdrawn from the Soviet Baltic fleet and from the Baltic and Leningrad military districts, that an Arctic peace plan should be drawn up, that there should be a Nordic nuclear free zone and that consultations should begin on limiting military activity in the Baltic sea, North sea, Norwegian sea and Greenland sea.

Mr. Mellor

We have made clear in the course of bilateral contacts that proposals aimed at limiting freedom of movement on the high seas would create difficulties for the Alliance given its need to reinforce Europe by sea in times of crisis. As far as the proposal for a Nordic nuclear-free zone is concerned, our view is that such a zone would do little to enhance international security because of the direct relevance to the Nordic area of nuclear and conventional forces stationed elsewhere.