§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Mr. Adam Ingram)In 1992, the then Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence, Sir Ronald Oxburgh, conducted a review of the safety of nuclear weapons. It was reported to Parliament House of Commons, 13 July 1992,Official Report, column 520. that he had recommended the inauguration of a safety "champion". A position entitled Nuclear Weapon Safety Adviser was subsequently created, and this has had two incumbents. More recently, further work has been done on safety management arrangements in the Department in general, and in the nuclear programmes in particular, to reflect policy and organisational developments. As a result, we have appointed a Nuclear Weapon Regulator to provide assurance about safety in the nuclear weapons programme. In so doing, it was recognised that the tasks of this official would be very similar to those of 77WS the Nuclear Weapon Safety Adviser, and it was decided that, when the regulator was ready to conduct business, the safety adviser post should close. This has recently occurred.