HC Deb 07 May 1962 vol 659 cc9-10W
63. Mr. A. Henderson

asked the Lord Privy Seal whether he will now make a statement on the clarification by the eight neutral Governments of their test ban treaty proposals.

Mr. Godber

At the meeting on 19th April the neutral delegations said that their memorandum would have to rest largely on its own merits, and was intended to serve only as a basis for negotiation. It is on that basis that the Western delegates have been discussing the memorandum in the Nuclear Test Sub-Committee at Geneva.

64. Mr. A. Henderson

asked the Lord Privy Seal whether Her Majesty's Government are satisfied from the information now made available to them at the Geneva Disarmament Conference, that all atmospheric nuclear tests can be detected and identified by national monitoring systems; and whether the offer made by them to the Russian Government last September to agree to a ban on all atmospheric tests will be renewed.

Mr. Godber

Most but not all atmospheric tests can be detected and identified by national monitoring systems. As regards the second part of the Question, I have nothing to add to what my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister said in answer to the right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition and the hon. Gentleman the Member for Nelson and Colne (Mr. S. Silverman) on 3rd May.

Mr. Hector Hughes

asked the Lord Privy Seal what regulations, conventions and international agreements are now in force governing the giving of notice to Great Britain by any nation of their intention to explode an experimental thermo-nuclear bomb and of the intended time and place of any such explosion.

Mr. Godber

None.