HC Deb 11 May 2001 vol 368 cc415-6W
Mr. Matthew Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 1 May 2001,Official Report, column 551W, regarding Porton Down, if his Department's officials conducting the comprehensive survey will speak to (a) scientists and staff at Porton Down who conducted the experiments and (b) former service personnel who took part in the experiments; and if he will make a statement. [161041]

Dr. Moonie

The historical survey of the Porton Down Volunteer programme will gather information, initially from documentary sources. A decision on whether to contact former Porton Down staff or volunteers will be made at a later date.

Mr. Matthew Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 1 May 2001,Official Report, column 551W, regarding Porton Down, if he will place in the Library a description of each piece of research which has been carried out in response to inquiries from (a) former volunteers, (b) parliamentarians and (c) the Wiltshire police. [161040]

Dr. Moonie

No. I refer the hon. Member to my answer to his previous question of 9 April 2001,Official Report, column 364W, which explained the procedure for allowing former Porton Down volunteers access to information about the trials that they took part in at Porton Down. Each inquiry from an individual volunteer is a research task in itself and the information is personal to the volunteer and Porton Down.

Inquiries from parliamentarians are in two forms: either parliamentary questions to which responses are already in the public domain, or parliamentary inquiries on behalf of an individual. In the case of the latter the information is personal to the volunteer and is given to the parliamentarian in confidence.

Inquiries from the Wiltshire police are subject to ongoing investigation and it would not be appropriate to comment on these at this time.