§ Mr. David StewartTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent research his Department has(a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the (i) level of risk posed by and (ii) stage of development reached by Iraq in the development of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. [58210]
§ Mr. BradshawWe have not specifically commissioned any such research.
We do, however, have regular access, including from intelligence sources, to information regarding the development of such weapons by Iraq.
This information, coupled with the details of weapons and materials for which UN weapons inspectors were unable to account between 1991 and 1998 enables us to make periodic assessments of the risk posed by Iraq and of on-going development work.
Since the withdrawal of UNSCOM and IAEA inspection teams in December 1998, we have had no independently-verifiable information of the stage of development reached in the Iraqi WMD programme.