§ Mrs. Anne WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his letter to the hon. Member for Congleton of 28 February, what steps he is taking to identify all those treaties and agreements to which the United Kingdom is a signatory but of which his Department has lost sight; if he will list those treaties and agreements so far identified; if he will indicate in each case the main provisions of the treaty or agreement and the action which he now proposes to take to comply with the provisions of those treaties and agreements; and if he will make a statement. [16524]
§ Mr. Baldry[holding answer 27 March 1995]: Treaty records, which were opened in 1835, show that the United Kingdom is now signatory to some 2,460 multilateral and 9,273 bilateral treaties.
The treaties cover a wide range of subjects and most fall to other Government Departments to administer. Each treaty would need to be researched individually to determine its present status. The information sought is not therefore readily available from treaty records and could be provided only after lengthy research at disproportionate cost.