Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of issuing a medal to UK nuclear test veterans; and if he will make a statement.

The Government continues to recognise and be grateful to all Servicemen who participated in the British Nuclear testing programme. As part of Sir John Holmes' independent medal review in 2012, the issue of possible medallic recognition for veterans of the British Nuclear Tests was considered.

The final decision was that the type of duty undertaken did not meet the risk and rigour criteria historically associated with UK Operational Medals. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has, therefore, made no recent assessment of medallic recognition for Nuclear Test Veterans (NTV). However, as discussed during Defence Oral Questions on 11 June 2018, Defence Ministers will meet with the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr Hayes) and representatives from the NTV community to discuss their concerns.

For details of the support provided to NTVs I refer the hon. Member to the answer provided by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Armed Forces (Mr Lancaster) on 9 December 2016 to Question 55999 to the hon. Member for Arfon (Mr Williams):

https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2016-12-02/55999/.

The MOD does not hold information which could confirm the number of UK NTVs.