Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 6 December 2023 to Question 4035 on Veterans: Radiation Exposure, whether she has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the preparation of an instrument under the terms of section 3 of the Public Records Act 1958 to permanently retain the (a) ES and (b) AB series of files that were withdrawn from the National Archives in 2018.

Instruments under the terms of section 3 of the Public Records Act 1958 do not permit the permanent retention of records that have been selected for transfer to The National Archives. Instead, retained records must be reviewed by the Department after a maximum period of 10 years.

The review of the AB and ES files relating to the UK’s historic nuclear weapons programme is ongoing. The Ministry of Defence published an update on its review in January 2024, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-nuclear-archive-records/review-of-nuclear-archive-records-update-january-2024