Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proposals were put forward at the UN Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty review conference in 2015 to mitigate the risks of inadvertent use of nuclear weapons; and what assessment they have made of the appropriate forums in which to hold discussions before the next conference in 2020.

The UK gives the very highest priority to the security and safety of our nuclear weapons, and robust arrangements are in place for the political control of the UK’s strategic nuclear deterrent. At the 2015 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, over 50 working papers were put forward by States Parties or groups of States and a large number of formal and informal statements were made over the four weeks of the Conference. These covered a broad range of issues related to all aspects of the Treaty, including the security and safety of nuclear weapons. We will continue to engage constructively in discussions on all aspects of the Treaty in the appropriate fora including the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October this year and at the forthcoming Preparatory Committees of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty scheduled for 2017, 2018 and 2019.