Dr. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he chemical warfare defence establishment at Porton Down has offered any technological or scientific assistance to the United States Department of Defence to destroy the United States stockpile of chemical weapon agents and nerve gases.
§ Mr. NeubertAs we have made abundantly clear, the United Kingdom does not possess, produce or seek to acquire any chemical or biological weapons; we abandoned our possession and production of such weapons in the late 1950s. The work carried out at the chemical defence establishment, Porton Down, is totally oriented towards protective measures; there is absolutely no offensive intent.
The United Kingdom, through the chemical defence establishment, has collaborated over many years with the United States and our other NATO allies on approaches to the safe destruction of chemical agents and weapons, and we fully expect this collaboration and sharing of techniques to continue, as an agreement on a global ban on chemical weapons is one of NATO's arms control priorities.