§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Scotland why he has refused a request for scientists from the Scottish Office to attend conferences on nuclear winter theory.
§ Mr. AncramThe Department was invited by Glasgow district council, in conjunction with Strathclyde regional council, to participate in a conference the brochure for which gave prominence to the so-called "nuclear winter" and expressed a hope
that it may he possible to break through the conspiracy of silence".As the Government have made no secret of known facts about the effects of nuclear weapons, and as the "nuclear winter" is an unproved hypothesis, the invitation was declined because it was apparent that the conference was unlikely to provide objective or dispassionate treatment of the subject matter.