§ Mr. WelshTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations have been made to the Governments of(a) Vietnam, (b) Cambodia, (c) Mozambique and (d) other developing countries regarding the results of British research into the control and destruction of land mines. [108]
§ Mr. Hanley[holding answer 20 November 1995]: None.
§ Mr. WelshTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what public funds have been expended on research into the control and destruction of land mines for each of the past five years. [109]
§ Mr. Hanley[holding answer 20 November 1995]: The Ministry of defence supports a programme of generic research into battlefield engineering, part of which is directed towards studies into the control and destruction of land mines. It is estimated that expenditure on such work in this financial year will be more than £150,000. Figures for preceding years are not readily available but are understood to be comparable for the past three years and lower prior to that.
In addition, the United Kingdom participates in a number of programmes to the same purpose in NATO and in information exchanges with our allies under the technical co-operation programme.
91WThe Overseas Development Administration has provided £104,928 to fund a short research programme by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency to review the application of various techniques for mine detection against the operational requirements of humanitarian mine clearance programmes.