Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what specific actions they are considering to address the findings of the First-tier Tribunal on the appeal of Jane O’Connor against the Ministry of Defence [2024] UKFTT 00153 (GRC), particularly in relation to the welfare and recognition of nuclear test veterans.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The First-tier Tribunal decision is currently being reviewed. The Tribunal has allowed each respondent 28 calendar days, which is the 25 March 2024, to consider the outcome and decide upon any next steps in terms of an appeal; or whether to accept the decision. It therefore would not be appropriate to comment further on this, or any future handling procedures relating to access to medical records of deceased personnel, until such a decision has been made.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the findings of the First-tier Tribunal ruling relating to the appeal of Jane O’Connor against the Ministry of Defence [2024] UKFTT 00153 (GRC), regarding the health impacts on veterans exposed to radiation during nuclear tests; and what steps they intend to take in response.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The First-tier Tribunal decision is currently being reviewed. The Tribunal has allowed each respondent 28 calendar days, which is the 25 March 2024, to consider the outcome and decide upon any next steps in terms of an appeal; or whether to accept the decision. It therefore would not be appropriate to comment further on this, or any future handling procedures relating to access to medical records of deceased personnel, until such a decision has been made.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the First-tier Tribunal ruling on the appeal of Jane O’Connor against the Ministry of Defence [2024] UKFTT 00153 (GRC), what plans they have to reassess procedures for access to historical records relating to the health outcomes of nuclear test veterans.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The First-tier Tribunal decision is currently being reviewed. The Tribunal has allowed each respondent 28 calendar days, which is the 25 March 2024, to consider the outcome and decide upon any next steps in terms of an appeal; or whether to accept the decision. It therefore would not be appropriate to comment further on this, or any future handling procedures relating to access to medical records of deceased personnel, until such a decision has been made.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the findings of the First-tier Tribunal in the appeal of Jane O’Connor against the Ministry of Defence [2024] UKFTT 00153 (GRC), what assessment they have made of the accessibility of the 150 records withheld by AWE Aldermaston; and what plans they have to review of the accessibility of these records.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
My right hon. Friend the Minister for Defence People and Families will be visiting the Atomic Weapons Establishment shortly to personally review the information and consider its release into the public domain.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government on what date they requested access to the 150 documents held by the Atomic Weapons Establishment concerning blood tests taken from British troops during radiation experiments; how many of the files requested were provided; and how many were withheld.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Minister for Defence People and Families (the Rt Hon Dr Andrrew Murrison) asked officials at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) to review the 150 documents to enable his review of that information shortly before the debate on Nuclear Test Veterans: Medical Records on 28 November 2023.
The Minister will personally assess all 150 documents when he visits AWE shortly and will consider their release into the public domain.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to inform Parliament of their findings from their review of documents related to blood tests taken from British troops during radiation experiments.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Minister for Defence People and Families (the Rt Hon Dr Andrrew Murrison) asked officials at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) to review the 150 documents to enable his review of that information shortly before the debate on Nuclear Test Veterans: Medical Records on 28 November 2023.
The Minister will personally assess all 150 documents when he visits AWE shortly and will consider their release into the public domain.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to place in the Library of the House copies of the following files, recently revealed to exist by the Atomic Weapons Establishment: (1) Transcript of proceedings 15 November 1984, (2) Royal Commission (RC)1 RC558, pages 988 to 1284, 13 August 1954, (3) AWRE Aldermaston Health Physics Division report on Tritium, 27 October 1958, (4) Arrangements for Examining Urine of Personnel Exposed to Ingesting or Inhaling Radioactive Material, 5 February 1958, (5) Request for arrangements of examining urine of personnel exposed to the risk of ingesting or inhaling radioactive material, 5 January 1958, (6) Reply to Regarding the Arrangements for Urine Testing of Personnel, between 20 January and 20 February 1958, (7) The Arrangements for Urine Testing of Personnel, 20 February 1958, (8) Radiological Safety of Personnel from the Medical Aspect, 24 February 1958, (9) Dose Record Grapple Z – record of 4 urine samples, 17 January 1958, (10) UKAEA – Weapons Group – Fourth Annual Report on Health and Safety, 2 January 1959, and (11) Preliminary Report to the Technical Director: Summary of Biological Observations at Operation Hurricane, 1 January 1952.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
There are no plans to place the information in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if it is his Department's policy not to dispose of documents in relation to the UK nuclear weapons testing programme during the course of his Department's Information Management Programme.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Ministry of Defence's information management policy is in accord with our obligations to the Public Records Act 1958 as set out in Joint Service Publication 441.
All records, including those relating to UK nuclear weapons tests, are retained for business, regulatory or legislative purposes. Once the need to retain has passed the record will be reviewed and transferred to The National Archives or another place of deposit, gifted to another organisation, or destroyed.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what tests her Department has carried out on (a) blood and (b) urine samples taken from people who served at UK nuclear tests between 1952 and 1991.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Pursuant to the Answer I gave the hon. Member on 1 April 2019 to Question 237633, to ascertain what blood and urine tests may have been undertaken, the information sought would require the individual medical record of each of the personnel present at the UK nuclear tests to be located and reviewed. These records are not held centrally and to provide the information could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if she will release all F Med 12 and F Med 29 forms that were completed during the UK's nuclear weapons testing programme for analysis by the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
For reasons of medical confidentiality and data protection, disclosing individuals' medical records to third parties requires the explicit consent of each data subject. The Ministry of Defence will consider all such requests on a case by case basis.
Where the data subject is deceased relatives can request their healthcare records, albeit there is no automatic right to access. Patient confidentiality can be over-ridden and records released if there is a legal claim as a result of the death. Again, each such request would be considered on a case by case basis.