HC Deb 03 November 1998 vol 318 cc494-5W
Mr. Baker

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what contingency plans are in place to protect the public from terrorist attacks involving chemical weapons, with particular reference to the areas around American bases. [57312]

Mr. Straw

A series of classified contingency plans exist for responding to a wide range of terrorist threats including those which might involve the threatened or actual use of chemical weapons. In the interests of national security and the protection of the public these are regularly reviewed, tested and updated in the light of changing circumstances. The same arrangements apply at those sites made available to the United States Visiting Forces as at any other sites in the United Kingdom which might be vulnerable to attack.