Written question asked by Ken Livingstone (Labour), in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 15 May 1996. It was answered by Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative) on Wednesday, 15 May 1996 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question: How many service personnel attending the Defence Nuclear Biological and Chemical Centre at Winterbourne Gunner have taken part at the same time in the service volunteers programme at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment since 1966.

Answer: Mr. Livingstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel attending the defence nuclear biological and chemical centre at Winterbourne Gunner have taken part at the same time in the service volunteers programme at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment since 1966.[28040] Mr. Soames: No service personnel attending courses at the DNBCC at Winterbourne Gunner have participated in the service volunteers programme at CBDE Porton Down since 1988. Prior to that date, a small number of personnel may have volunteered to participate in routine short trials at CBDE, although this was not standard practice. However, while records are maintained of all volunteers attending Porton Down, DNBCC did not maintain a record of its students who may have attended trials at CBDE on an ad hoc basis. In the absence of such records, it is impossible to identify how many, if any, participants on the service volunteers programme were DNBCC students when they volunteered.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 28040; 277 c441W
Session: 1995-96
Subjects: Armed forces Chemical and biological warfare Defence Research Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment Defence Nuclear Biological and Chemical Centre
Contains statistics: Yes