§ Mr. PawseyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 2 February,Official Report, column 763, if he will ask the police scientific development branch to study the use of standard traffic cones to conceal bombs in a recent attack in Northern Ireland and what other cases have been reported of concealing explosive devices in standard traffic cones.
§ Mr. HowardI have been asked to reply.
The police are aware of no cases involving the concealment of terrorist devices in traffic cones in Great Britain. They have information about six such cases in Northern Ireland since 1976, the most recent of which, on 12 February, was the first not to have been safely defused. In the light of this new development I have asked for a further assessment to be made, in consultation with those responsible for security arrangements in Northern Ireland, of the case for publicly funded research on transparent cones and will write to my hon. Friend once this has been completed.