HC Deb 19 May 1958 vol 588 cc61-2W
Mr. Mason

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why he gave permission to a Russian photographic unit to take a film of the working model of Zero Energy Thermonuclear Assembly at the Brussels World Fair; what other nations have been granted the same facility; and whether he will grant similar permission to Euratom.

Mr. Ormsby-Gore

All exhibits in the United Kingdom Government Pavilion at the Brussels Exhibition may be photographed or filmed with the permission of the Director of the Pavilion who, in this matter, is concerned only to avoid inconvenience and annoyance to other visitors. Permission to film the model as inshore minesweepers as a means of bridging the gap until vessels of new construction were available. The conversion cost was approximately £76,000 per vessel. Now that the minesweeper new construction programme has practically been completed, there is no longer a requirement to keep these war-time constructed craft and none is being retained in reserve.