§ Mr. Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 2 July,Official Report, column 180, how many series of technical reports and pages are in current use by the atomic weapons establishment. [9495]
§ Mr. SpellarThe four main series of technical reports listed in the answer given to the hon. Member on 2 July 1997,Official Report, column 180, are still open but little used. Other internal reports and papers are produced by the various divisions of AWE, but numerical details are not held centrally and a census would require unreasonable diversion of resources. I am, therefore, in accordance with exemption 9 of the code of practice for open government, withholding this information.
§ Mr. TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many papers have been produced in the CXD memoranda series of technical papers and reports from the atomic weapons establishment at Aldermaston; when the papers were first produced in this series; when this series ended; and how many of the papers in this series are currently unclassified. [9472]
§ Mr. SpellarThere are 686 papers in the CXD—chemistry and explosives division—memoranda series, 230 of which are currently unclassified. The series started in 1979 and ended in 1991. More recent papers of this type are known as CXD technical reports, of which, from 1991 to date, there have been 255; 74 of these are currently unclassified.