Equipment (Hansard, 6 March 1991)

Mr. O'Neill
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions he has had with his NATO counterparts regarding the distinction between lethal and non-lethal defence equipment.

§ Mr. Alan Clark
None.

Mr. O'Neill
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his assessment of the financial effect on his equipment procurement budget of the export of British defence equipment.

§ Mr. Alan Clark
It is not possible accurately to quantify the full effect.
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Mr. O'Neill
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment his Department has made of the activities of the Space Research Corporation that relate to the actual or possible export of non-lethal or lethal defence equipment, referred to in his answer of 2 May 1990,Official Report, column 602.

§ Mr. Alan Clark
The assessment of my Department is that SRC was not directly involved in the production and export of the equipment referred to. This was undertaken by another firm, ATI, which was controlled by SRC's founder, Dr. G. V. Bull. It is believed that the equipment consisted of large calibre gun parts destined for Iraq.