Veterans: Radiation Exposure

(asked on 28th November 2023) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will publish (a) a copy of Lord Chancellor's Instruments (LCIs) Nos 76 and 118 and (b) set out which exemptions applied under those LCIs to retain Atomic Weapons Establishment files containing details of blood and urine testing of personnel in the UK nuclear weapons programme.


Answered by
John Whittingdale Portrait
John Whittingdale
This question was answered on 6th December 2023

Lord Chancellor's Instruments (LCIs) are public records. Arrangements for their permanent preservation and public access are managed in line with public records and information rights legislation.

The schedules which accompany the named LCIs set out the reasons that specified Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) files have been retained by AWE. The grounds for retention of those AWE files covered by LCI 76 are national security, security against possible terrorist activity, international relations, and the UK’s international obligations. AWE records covered by LCI 118 were retained due to the risk of proliferation of nuclear weapons or retained to allow a more detailed review of their access status.

Reticulating Splines