§ Mr. Strangasked the Secretary of State for Defence how much money is allocated out of the research and development budget for defence for research on verification of a comprehensive test ban treaty.
§ Mr. ButlerIt would not be in the national interest to reveal details of the defence R and D effort devoted to verification of a comprehensive test ban treaty.
§ Mr. Strangasked the Secretary of State for Defence what scientific investigations are being carried out at present on behalf of Her Majesty's Government to overcome any problems of verification of a comprehensive test ban treaty.
§ Mr. ButlerThe Ministry of Defence has a continuing programme of work on seismological monitoring and other technologies relevant to the verification of a comprehensive test ban. The Government tabled a working paper on these issues at the Geneva conference on disarmament in August 1983. In addition, we play a full part in the work of the conference on disarmament ad hoc group of scientific experts which considers international co-operation measures in detection and identification of seismic events, and we took part at the end of last year in a technical test of the worldwide collection and exchange of seismological data, the results of which are expected soon.