Nuclear Weapons (Hansard, 27 February 1991)

§ Mr. Cryer
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his Department's latest assessment of Pakistani nuclear weapon design and development capability.

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
We are concerned about the unsafeguarded nuclear programme in Pakistan. We have always encouraged all non-parties to accede to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty; this would engage them in an undertaking not to manufacture or acquire nuclear weapons.

§ Mr. Cryer
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps were taken to inform(a) hon. Members and (b) non-governmental organisations of the outcome of (i) the fourth quinquennial review conference of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty in Geneva in 1990 and (ii) the first amendment conference of the partial nuclear test ban treaty in New York in 1991.

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
On the outcome of the nonproliferation treaty review conference, my right hon. Friend the then Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs wrote to all hon. Members on 18 October 1990. I am arranging for a copy of this letter to be placed in the Library of the House. In addition, the Arms Control and Disarmament Quarterly Review No. 19 of October 1990, carried a report of the Conference. This review is distributed to many non-governmental organisations.
On the partial test ban treaty amendment conference the outcome was that a decision was adopted by the majority of participants acknowledging the complexity of the issues surrounding a comprehensive test ban and mandating the conference president to conduct consultations with a view to resuming the work of the conference at an appropriate time. A copy of the decision of the Conference, taken by majority vote, is being placed in the Library of the House.