To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when his Department established the voluntary vetting scheme to prevent the transfer of technology related to weapons of mass destruction in the higher education sector; and if his Department compiles an annual report on the operation of this scheme. [38964]

The Voluntary Vetting Scheme was announced in Parliament through a Written Parliamentary Question on 19 July 1994, Official Report, column 137, and took effect in October 1994.This Department does not compile an annual report on the operation of the scheme.