§ Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will place in the Library a copy of the report produced by the chemical defence establishment, 173W Porton Down in 1973, entitled "Wind Speed and Miosis from Nerve Agents"; [22930]
(2) if he will place in the Library a copy of the report produced by the chemical defence establishment, Porton Down, in 1971 entitled "Estimation of the concentrations of nerve agent vapour required to produce measured degrees of miosis in rabbit and human eyes". [22933]
§ Dr. MoonieNo. This document is classified Confidential. It contains an assessment of the effectiveness of nerve agent in field situations and the release of this report would assist potential proliferators. I am therefore
Date Area visited Issues May 2000 Explosives handling area Formal inspection of explosive handling activities August 2000 Safety cell Introduce new HSE Inspector October 2000 Biomedical sciences Routine preventative visit November 2000 Biomedical sciences Routine preventative visit November 2001 Biomedical sciences Routine visit to discuss high containment facilities
§ Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer 9 April 2001,Official Report, column 364W, on Porton Down, if former service volunteers invited to visit Porton Down to view the original record books and discuss their experiences with current members of Porton Down staff are refunded for their travel expenses by his Department. [22875]
§ Dr. MoonieIt is not Ministry of Defence policy to do so. However, some travel expenses were refunded when the Porton Down helpline was established in February 1998. Since November 2000, MOD policy has been to not refund volunteers' travel expenses on the ground that visiting Porton Down to view original records is a matter for the individual concerned and adds no further information to that previously communicated in writing.
§ Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 15 November 2001,Official Report, column 824W, on Porton Down, if he will place in the Library copies of the (a) minutes, (b) agendas and (c) papers of the meetings between his Department's staff and the Medical Research Council on 2 and 3 August to discuss the epidemiological study into volunteers who took part in experiments at the Chemical Defence Establishment, Porton Down. [22873]
§ Dr. MoonieThese meetings were not of a kind to require formal documentation of this type. The only formal document relating to either of these meetings is a note of the meeting of 3 August which was included in the pack of papers distributed in advance of the Medical Research council seminar on 9 October to those who had shown an interest in putting forward proposals for research into the health of Porton Down volunteers. I will place a copy of my note in the Library of the House.
§ Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel who took part in experiments at the chemical defence establishment at Porton Down have been given copies of technical reports relating to their own experiments since the establishment of the Porton Down helpline in February 1998. [22931]
§ Dr. MoonieThere is no definitive list of the number of the volunteers who have received copies of technical reports. Volunteers who visit Porton Down are given174W withholding this information in the interest of national security under category 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
§ Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what dates the Health and Safety Executive has conducted formal inspections of the chemical and biological defence establishment, Porton Down, since 31 May 2000. [22934]
§ Dr. MoonieSince May 2000 there have been five occasions when representatives of the Health and Safety Executive have visited Dst1 (formerly DERA) Porton Down. These are as follows:
copies of records that refer to them personally and copies of other documentation, including technical reports, where they add relevant information to that already located in the volunteer record books. This is decided on a case-by-case basis. In addition, copies of reports are included with the letter sent to the volunteer, detailing their attendance, where deemed appropriate.