§ Mr. Peter DuncanTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish an annual report on(a) future 1140W DU test firing proposals and (b) environmental testing results from the previous 12 months at the DERA testing facility at Dundrennan, Kirkcudbrightshire. [6506]
§ Dr. MoonieUnder current practice, reports on annual monitoring surveys of the marine and terrestrial environment are provided to Dumfries and Galloway Council, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, and placed in the Library of the House. On 28 March 2001, the Ministry of Defence produced reports containing results from the 1999 marine and terrestrial environment monitoring surveys—copies are held in the Library of the House under reference DEP01–872. Reports for the 2000 monitoring surveys are being prepared and will be published shortly. This practice will continue. In addition to the routine marine and terrestrial environmental surveys, a more general survey to try to find any previously undetected depleted uranium (DU) fragments is currently being conducted at the range and results will be published next year.
MOD has no plans to produce an annual report outlining future DU firing at the Kirkcudbright Training Area range. Further firings may be required while the ammunition remains in service, and I will publicise the details when plans are agreed.