Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment she has made of the presence of asbestos at Ashchurch military depot.

Testing has indicated the presence of asbestos contamination in a number of buildings at the Defence Equipment & Support Ashchurch site, resulting in some building closures as a precaution. Personnel working at the site have been informed.

The programme of testing priority buildings is now complete and a number of buildings have been re-opened, allowing some operations to recommence. Testing of individual vehicles continues; this will inform the extent of cleaning required. A remediation programme has been developed to clean affected areas and initial measures have already been implemented. Contingency planning is in place to support defence activities.