§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his policy in respect of the storage on private land of nuclear weapons by companies involved in their manufacture. [102524]
§ Mr. HoonI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 7 December 1999,Official Report, column 457W. Nuclear weapons are constructed on Ministry of Defence land and remain in the ownership of the Ministry of Defence at all times.
§ Mr. Tony BennTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what briefing the United Kingdom Government have received from the US Government on their sub-critical nuclear test programme. [102128]
§ Mr. HoonUnder the auspices of the 1958 UK/US Mutual Defence Agreement the UK and the US have regular exchanges on aspects of nuclear warhead stockpile stewardship. These have included briefings on the scope and outcome of US sub-critical experiments carried out at the nevada Test Site. Precise details of these exchanges are being withheld under exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.