Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to her Department's archived document entitled British Isles Explosive Dumping Grounds, what records her Department holds on explosives dumped at the following areas and positions (a) Off the Continental Shelf 48 20 00 N 13 40 00 W (b) Beauforts Dyke 54 54 00 N 05 23 00 W (c) Beauforts Dyke 54 54 00 N 05 05 00 W (d) Inner Sound 57 19 00 N 05 51 00 W (e) Isle of May, Firth of Forth 56 10 45 N 02 30 15 W (f) Hurd Deep 49 30 00 N 03 34 00 W (g) St Catherines Deep 50 34 00 N 01 12 00 W (h) East of Orford Ness 52 07 00 N 01 55 00 E (i) East Swin (Kings Channel) 51 47 30 N 01 30 00 E (j) NW of Alderney 49 50 00 N 02 18 00 W (k) NW of Alderney 49 47 00N 02 17 00 W (l) SSW Guernsey 49 18 00 N 02 42 00 W (m) Whitesand Bay (Plymouth) 50 18 45 N 04 16 00 W (n) Milford Haven 51 34 30 N 05 01 00 W (o) Milford Haven 51 38 00 N 05 20 00W (p) Milford Haven 51 43 30 N 05 33 45 W (q) Beauforts Dyke 54 45 00 N 05 15 00W (r) Sound of Mull 56 30 00 N 05 37 00 W (s) Isle of May (Firth of Forth) 56 11 24 N 02 29 00 W (t) East of Aberdeen 57 09 00 N 01 58 30 W (u) Loch Linnhe 56 30 00 N 05 37 00 W.

The last at-sea disposal of explosives on the UK continental shelf took place in 1976. The last disposals of chemical weapons off the continental shelf took place in 1957 while disposals of munitions off the continental shelf ended in 1992. Information relating to events prior to 1989 has been destroyed or transferred to the National Archives in accordance with the Public Records Act. No information relating to later events is known to be held in Ministry of Defence archives. No central record exists of such information and to search for any previously unidentified information would incur a disproportionate cost.