asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if Her Majesty's Government will support the draft proposal for the prohibition of the use of specific conventional weapons submitted by Austria, Egypt, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Yugoslavia at the diplomatic conference on the reaffirmation and development of humanitarian law applicable in armed conflict, in February 1975.

A working paper by these seven countries was amongst the documents presented earlier this year in the Diplomatic Conference's Ad Hoc Committee on "weapons which may cause unnecessary suffering or have indiscriminate effects". The committee decided by consensus that a further conference of Government experts should be held from 28th January to 26th February 1976, to examine technical information on certain types of weapon and to study the possibility of any bans or restrictions on their use.Her Majesty's Government intend to continue to contribute constructively to these discussions which we hope will promote practical progress towards effective international controls.