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Prime Minister

Answer

Llew Smith: To ask the Prime Minister how many United Kingdom and United States inspectors have been deployed in Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction; what expertise those from the United Kingdom have to conduct the inspections; from what budget they are being paid; and if he will (a) place in the Library and (b) post on the 10 Downing Street website daily updates on the work of the US-UK Iraqi inspection teams. [110113] The Prime Minister: As I said in the House on 14 April, a specialised team is beginning work and we are in discussion with allies and the UN as to what the future role of the UN in such a process may be. The initial United Kingdom contribution centres around a number of dedicated survey teams, totalling around 120 personnel, including nuclear, chemical and biological specialists, explosive ordnance disposal personnel; experts in forensic science and evidence- gathering, debriefing and interviewing specialists; and, supporting functions. This initial activity is being funded as part of the overall additional military costs of the operation as a whole. The funding of the United States contribution is a matter for the Government of the United States. We will aim to release information concerning evidence of Iraqi WMD programmes when and where appropriate, as we did before the conflict began.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

110113; 404 c399W

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Chemical weapons Deployment Biological weapons Finance Iraq Nuclear weapons Staff Weapons USA Iraq conflict

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk