§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the ad hoc group working on a verification régime for the 1972 Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention is to inform itself of the US Counterproliferation Initiative on the physical elimination of weapons of mass destruction (CPI); and, if the group is not informing itself about this, whether Her Majesty's Government will bring the CPI to the attention of the group.
§ Baroness Chalker of WallaseyThe ad hoc group's main aim is to strengthen the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention by drawing up measures to verify compliance with it. Since the purpose of the US Counterproliferation Initiative is to consider a defensive response to the threat from proliferation, it is not clear that this needs to be among the substantive issues which the group will address.