Nuclear Proliferation

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To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list (a) all measures taken by his Department in the last 12 months to prevent nuclear proliferation, (b) the number of personnel in his Department working to prevent nuclear proliferation and (c) his Department's total expenditure on control of nuclear proliferation in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Following is the reply:

(a) Preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is one of the FCO's departmental objectives. To that end we have been consistently active in promoting the nuclear non-proliferation regime in a wide range of international fora, including the UN, the IAEA, the EC, the nuclear suppliers group, the Zangger committee and in support of the UN Special Commission's activities in Iraq. We have undertaken regular bilateral lobbying to increase support for the NPT. In co-operation with other Departments we have provided advice to the DTI on export licensing matters.

(b) Ten FCO staff in London are engaged directly in work to prevent nuclear proliferation. But a much larger number of staff, at home and overseas, were involved in activities in support of this objective at some time in 1991.

(c) It is not possible to identify separately departmental expenditure specifically on the control of nuclear proliferation.

Volume 205: debated on Monday 2 March 1992