Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of having the Civil Nuclear Constabulary retirement age at (a) 65 and (b) 68 on (i) the safety of the individual officer and (ii) national security.

The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary undertook a joint assessment of the effect of having a Civil Nuclear Constabulary retirement age of 65 or higher in 2015. This analysis considered the potential effects of an increase in the Civil Nuclear Constabulary retirement age on both national security and individual officer safety.

Civil Nuclear Constabulary Officers face rigorous testing to determine deployability and officers are firearms trained and tested to College of Policing Standards. Officers who joined the force post- 2011 are already subject to rigorous fitness standards, and following a Chief Constable’s Direction in Autumn 2015, these fitness standards are being extended to the remaining workforce. Capability and not age are the determining factors for deployment.