Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will establish a Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals to consider representations from those who support the creation of a (a) National Defence Medal and (b) Nuclear Test Veterans Medal.

The Committee for the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals (HD Committee) has recently, as part of the Independent Military Medals Review, considered the proposals to institute a National Defence Medal and a Nuclear Test Veterans Medal. HD Committee considered the merits of both medals but in respect of the latter concluded that this was not the sort of operational duty that would normally be recognised by the award of a medal; and that a strong enough case could not be made at this time for a National Defence Medal.