§ LORD OGMOREasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether any Military Agreements have been concluded under Article 43 of the United Nations Charter; whether any members of the United Nations are holding immediately available national air-force contingents for combined international enforcement action, as provided for by Article 45 of the Charter, and whether the strength and degree of readiness of these contingents and plans for their combined action have been determined by the Security Council with the assistance of the Military Staff Committee.
§ THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE)No military agreements have been concluded under Article 43 of the United Nations Charter. No members of the United Nations are holding immediately available national air-force contingents for combined international enforcement action as provided for by Article 45 of the Charter. This is because talks which took place between 1946 and 1948 in the Military Staff Committee on the general principles for the organisation of the armed forces contemplated under Article 43 reached deadlock, caused by the Soviet attitude, which the Security Council was unable to resolve. By 1948 the discussion had come to a stand-still and no progress towards the implementation of Article 43 has been made since then.