asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether there has been any increase in the numbers of persons employed in his Department, or the man hours spent by members of his Department, in dealing with nuclear research and arms related research.

The number of staff employed in MOD on arms-related research has been reduced substantially over the past few years in line with the staff reductions that have been made in the Department as a whole. There was a per cent. fall in 1981 compared with 1980. It is not our policy for security reasons to give details of numbers employed in nuclear research.