Written question asked by Harry Cohen (Labour) on Tuesday, 5 October 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 17 November 2004. It was answered by Denis MacShane (Labour) on Wednesday, 17 November 2004 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on what date his Department (a) completed its analysis of Iraq's declaration to the United Nations of December 2002 and (b) communicated to the UN its view that there were omissions in the declaration; what omissions were indicated; whether such omissions are considered to be the case now; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on what date his Department (a) completed its analysis of Iraq's declaration to the United Nations of December 2002 and (b) communicated to the UN its view that there were omissions in the declaration; what omissions were indicated; whether such omissions are considered to be the case now; and if he will make a statement. [190229] Mr. MacShane: The analysis of the text of the Iraqi declaration was completed on 21 December 2002 and our observations on the declaration were passed to the United Nations at that time. The declaration was compared against previous declarations made by Iraq, and against the outstanding disarmament questions raised by the final report of UNSCOM, produced in 1999. Any discrepancies uncovered in this process were indicated to the United Nations. The Government continues to believe that there were omissions in the Iraqi declaration, and this has been borne out by reports from UNMOVIC at the time of the resumption of inspections in 2002-03 and, subsequently by the Iraq Survey Group.

Secondary information