Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what tests his Department has carried out on (a) blood and (b) urine samples taken from people who served at UK nuclear tests between 1952 and 1991.

Service personnel who were present at the UK nuclear weapon tests may have had blood samples taken throughout their career. Any records taken either before, during or after participation at the UK nuclear weapon tests would be held in individual military medical records in the Government's archives.

These medical records are unlikely to be collated in a form related to samples or incidences, and to ascertain what blood and urine tests may have been undertaken by service personnel would require the individual medical record of each of the personnel present at the UK nuclear tests to be located and reviewed. These records are not held centrally and to provide the information could only be done at disproportionate cost.

The Atomic Weapons Establishment holds copies of the results of urine radioactivity measurements and blood tests for a small number of individuals where these were included in scientific documentation on the nuclear weapons trials.