Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many nuclear weapons emergency exercises his Department's defence nuclear emergencies organisation has conducted since May 2010; and if he will publish on his Department's website the reports of such exercises.

The Ministry of Defence and its contractors conduct nuclear weapons emergency exercises to ensure the continued safe operation of the nuclear deterrent programme at locations across the UK, including the Atomic Weapons Establishment and Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde, and also in relation to the road convoy transport operation.

Between May 2010 and October 2014, 38 exercises were conducted. These included training exercises to test emergency plans and demonstration exercises. An Exercise Director's Post Exercise Report is issued for each such exercise, and a regulator's report is also issued for those exercises which are subject to formal assessment.

To publish all of these reports would require a lengthy review process that could be carried out only at disproportionate cost.