§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will place in the Library copies of the most recent returns relating to confidence-building measures submitted by states which are parties to the biological weapons convention. [146428]
§ Mr. HainThe confidence-building measures (CBMs) drawn up by the states part to the biological weapons convention (BWC) are first submitted to the United Nations centre for disarmament and then shared on a Government-to-Government basis. The UK does not therefore presently have agreement to make the contents of these documents public. This can only be given by the BWC review conference which next takes place on 19 November to 17 December 2001 in Geneva. The UK will press for wider dissemination of this information on that occasion.
A decision to place a copy of the UK CBMs in the House of Commons Library will be made after the necessary consultations with the other Government Departments, laboratories, and commercial companies which contribute to the UK's returns. I will write to my hon. Friend.