§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish the total amounts of chemical weapons and precursor stocks, by location, held by his Department. [12861]
§ Mr. ArbuthnotNo. The UK has not had an offensive chemical weapons capability since the 1950s. Items dating from the 1950s and before are discovered from time to time and taken to the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment for safe destruction. Small quantities of scheduled chemicals are held for purposes permitted by the chemical weapons convention; on security grounds, information about their quantity and location is safeguarded.