§ Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the British Government made the representations to the US administration to which the President of the Council referred in his oral answer to the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent (Llew Smith) on 6 February 2003,Official Report, column 454. [102484]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienSince entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997, the United States has accepted the continuous monitoring of the destruction of its chemical weapons (CW) stockpiles, as well as regular OPCW inspections of its former CW production facilities. Inspections at US industrial facilities only began in May 2000, as a result of a delay in putting in place the necessary domestic enabling legislation. During that time the United Kingdom regularly urged the US to remedy this deficiency at the earliest opportunity. To date the United States has in fact hosted more CW inspections than any other State410W Party, and the bulk of the inspector-person days expended by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have been in the United States.