Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what data his Department holds on the number and proportion of veterans who were involved in Britain’s nuclear testing programme in (a) Australia, (b) the South Pacific and (c) elsewhere between 1952 and 1967 who have been diagnosed as (i) being infertile and (ii) having fertility problems.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not collect or hold data monitoring the fertility of veterans. Since 1948, it has been the policy of successive Governments that the National Health Service in England and the Devolved Administrations is responsible for healthcare provision for veterans.

The MOD does hold War Disablement Pension files which are created when an individual is either medically discharged or submits a claim under the War Pension Scheme. These can contain discharge information, medical reports, service record documentation and various administrative papers. Case papers, for example additional medical reports and claims, are then added to the file when received. However, the information within these individual paper files is not stored centrally.