§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made towards 845W implementing the 13 point programme agreed upon at the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in 2000; and if he will make a statement. [44651]
§ Mr. HoonThe United Kingdom regards the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as the cornerstone of the non-proliferation regime. We remain firmly committed to the Treaty and also to the Final Document agreed at the Non Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in 2000. We are recognised as the most forward-leaning of the Nuclear Weapon States.
This Government has taken a large number of actions to promote nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. Since 1997, we have reduced our operationally available stockpile to fewer than 200 warheads. We have reduced the readiness of our nuclear forces with only a single Trident submarine on deterrent patrol, carrying 48 warheads against a previously planned ceiling of 96 warheads per submarine. We have signed and ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and continue to promote its entry into force, and we are still pressing for negotiations to begin at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva of a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty.
In addition to the measures set out above, we have signed and ratified the relevant protocols to both the Treaty of Raratonga (South Pacific Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone) and the treaty of Pelindaba (African Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone). We have placed fissile material no longer required for defence purposes under international safeguards, have been more transparent about nuclear and fissile material stockpiles and begun a national accounting for fissile material produced. We have also begun a programme to develop UK expertise in verifying the reduction and elimination of nuclear weapons internationally.