HC Deb 22 January 2001 vol 361 cc407-8W
Mr. Matthew Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on what dates his Department gave approval to the United States Government to carry out research programmes in Diego Garcia in the last five years; what the titles were of each of the research programmes; to which United States Department or agency approval was given in each case; and on what dates the results of each of the research programmes were given to the Foreign Office. [146645]

Mr. Battle

In May 1998 approval was given to the United States' State Department for "Cable Survivability Tests" in Diego Garcia, and again in April 2000 for further tests on cable survivability. Final results will be available to us on request once this research is complete.

In autumn 1998 the US Navy based in Diego Garcia were asked to conduct an environmental impact assessment on their ship cleaning methods. The research results, entitled "Ecological Assessment of the Potential Environmental Consequences of the Military Sealift Command's Ship Husbandry Activities at Diego Garcia", were provided to the Foreign Office in December 1999.