Chemical Weapons (Hansard, 16 November 1989)

§ Mr. Boyes

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if any Warsaw pact country currently deploys its own chemical weapons;

(2) if any Warsaw pact country currently manufactures chemical weapons;

(3) if he will make a statement on current and recent progress in the negotiations for a chemical weapons convention;

(4) if he will make a statement on the contingency plans for the safety and security of United States unitary chemical weapons stocks while being removed from the General Republic of Germany to the United States of America through United Kingdom territorial waters, airspace or land;

419W

(5) if his Department has a capability to measure the size of the Soviet chemical weapons stockpile, independently of United States capabilities;

(6) what has been his response to the United States Government's policy that chemical weapons will continue to be produced following the signing of an agreement on destruction of existing chemical weapon stocks;

(7) what is his latest assessment of the size of the Soviet chemical weapons stockpile; and to what time period this assessment refers;

(8) what recent changes have been observed in the Soviet chemical weapons and chemical warfare agents stockpiles;

(9) what recent communications he has received from the United States Defence Department concerning changes in its assessment of the size of the Soviet chemical weapons or chemical warfare agents stockpiles.