§ Lord Jenkins of Putneyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the United Kingdom delegation to the UN conference of the Committee on Disarmament plan to propose further measures which might ensure that during the chemical weapons destruction process, production facilities remain completely inoperative.
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Young)As my right honourable and learned friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs said in another place on 21st November, proposals by members of the NATO Alliance for verification of the non-operation and destruction of chemical weapons production facilities are already on the Geneva negotiating table. We await a detailed Soviet response. The United Kingdom is ready to play an active part in reaching agreement on this aspect of verification, particularly in the light of its experience in the dismantling of its own pilot plant at Nancekuke in the 1970s.
The United Kingdom is considering tabling a further working paper in early 1985 on the related verification issue of the non-diversion of industrial chemicals to illicit military stockpiles.