Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his policy is on whether the 1967 exchange of notes between the UK and US concerning the British Indian Ocean territory is, or has the effect of, a treaty between the US and UK.

The Exchange of Notes constituting an agreement concerning the Availability for Defence Purposes of the British Indian Ocean Territory entered into force on 30 December 1966. It was registered as a treaty at the United Nations on 22 August 1967. We have, therefore, not taken advice on the status of the exchange of notes.