§ Mr. LivingstoneTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence when officials from the Ministry of Defence or the chemical and biological establishment at Porton Down visited or were stationed at(a) Pine Bluff arsenal in Arkansas and (b) at the M687 binary metal parts facility at the Louisiana army ammunition plant in Shreveport, Louisiana, United States of America; what was the aim of these visits; and under which defence agreement they were organised.
§ Mr. HanleyThis matter is for the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment under its framework document. I have asked the chief executive of CBDE to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Graham Pearson to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 24 January 1994:
1. Your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking when officials from the Ministry of Defence or the chemical and biological establishment at Porton Down visited or were stationed at (a) Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas and (b) at the M687 binary metal parts facility at the Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant in Shreveport, Louisiana, United States of America; what was the aim of these visits; and under which defence agreement they were organised (Question 2, Order Paper 18 January 1994) has been passed to me to reply as Chief Executive of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment.
2. No collated records are kept of the visitors from the Ministry of Defence or the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment to these US defence facilities. I have consulted my staff and we are not aware of any visits to or staff stationed at the M687 binary metal parts facility at the Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant in Shreveport, USA. We are aware that there have been occasional infrequent visits to the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas. We are not aware of any staff being stationed at Pine Bluff Arsenal. It is probable that these visits would have taken place under one of the defence agreements referred to by the right hon. Archie Hamilton, MP, in his reply of 21 May 1992, Official Report, columns 255–256.