Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the cost of the Defence Nuclear Enterprise for the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The definition of the Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE) and scope of the associated nuclear ringfenced budget was agreed during financial year 2023-24. Prior to the estimated cost for 2023-24 being reported in supplementary estimates in February 2024, total DNE costs (within this definition) had never been reported, as activities are spread across different budgetary areas of the Department.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 6 December 2023 to Question 4035 on Veterans: Radiation Exposure, whether she has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the preparation of an instrument under the terms of section 3 of the Public Records Act 1958 to permanently retain the (a) ES and (b) AB series of files that were withdrawn from the National Archives in 2018.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Instruments under the terms of section 3 of the Public Records Act 1958 do not permit the permanent retention of records that have been selected for transfer to The National Archives. Instead, retained records must be reviewed by the Department after a maximum period of 10 years.
The review of the AB and ES files relating to the UK’s historic nuclear weapons programme is ongoing. The Ministry of Defence published an update on its review in January 2024, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-nuclear-archive-records/review-of-nuclear-archive-records-update-january-2024
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by The Earl of Minto on 19 March (HL3052), when the 150 documents related to the nuclear test veterans were declassified; and who authorised their declassification.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Minister for Defence People and Families personally examined all 150 records at the Atomic Weapons Establishment on 18 March 2024 and will update the House on plans for their release in due course. The documents consist of around 4,000 pages and were declassified following a review by officials at AWE and the Ministry of Defence which was completed in March this year.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by The Earl of Minto on 19 March (HL3052), whether they will place a copy of the declassified documents concerning the nuclear test veterans in the Library of the House.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Minister for Defence People and Families personally examined all 150 records at the Atomic Weapons Establishment on 18 March 2024 and will update the House on plans for their release in due course. The documents consist of around 4,000 pages and were declassified following a review by officials at AWE and the Ministry of Defence which was completed in March this year.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by The Earl of Minto on 19 March (HL3052), how many total pages are contained within the 150 declassified documents related to the nuclear test veterans.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Minister for Defence People and Families personally examined all 150 records at the Atomic Weapons Establishment on 18 March 2024 and will update the House on plans for their release in due course. The documents consist of around 4,000 pages and were declassified following a review by officials at AWE and the Ministry of Defence which was completed in March this year.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 57 of the Defence Command Paper 2023: Defence's response to a more contested and volatile world, published on 18 July 2023, CP 901, on what date he plans to publish the Defence Nuclear Strategy.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence published the Defence Nuclear Enterprise Command Paper – “Delivering the UK’s Nuclear Deterrent: A National Endeavour” on 25 March 2024.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps he is taking with international partners (a) through the UN and (b) in other fora to (i) tackle the use of nuclear rhetoric and (ii) promote disarmament.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Alongside our NATO Allies and G7 partners, we have consistently condemned Russia's irresponsible nuclear rhetoric. In February 2024, G7 Foreign Ministers "condemned Russia's irresponsible nuclear rhetoric, its posture of strategic intimidation, its announcement that it has deployed nuclear weapons in Belarus, at an increasingly unstable and dangerous moment, and its undermining of arms control regimes". Our nuclear deterrent has protected the UK and our Allies from the most extreme acts of aggression and will continue to protect us for as long as it is needed. We remain committed to full implementation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
In 2023 G7 Leaders issued the Hiroshima Vision on Nuclear Disarmament, which reaffirms our commitment to achieving a world without nuclear weapons with undiminished security for all. The UK has also funded over £1.8 million worth of projects on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, including our annual conference to address the diplomatic, political and strategic challenges for the global non-proliferation regime. This sits alongside our work on verification and irreversibility of nuclear disarmament that uniquely connects key government representatives with non-government policy, scientific and technical experts.
Asked by: Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party - West Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the impact of his Department's expenditure on a replacement nuclear deterrent on the non-nuclear equipment budget.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Funding for programmes in the Defence Nuclear Enterprise is now ringfenced within the Defence budget. This will help to protect the wider Equipment Plan budget from any financial pressures in nuclear programmes.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent steps he has taken to (a) assess and (b) enhance preparedness in response to nuclear threats.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The United Kingdom has well-developed contingency plans to respond to a wide range of eventualities. The plans and supporting arrangements have been developed, refined and tested over many years.
The scale of these capabilities is driven by classified planning assumptions derived from the United Kingdom’s National Security Risk Assessment. The Government sets out some of the main risks and emergencies that drive this common consequence planning in the National Risk Register.
As part of the UK’s broad emergency response capabilities, there are Local Resilience Forums (LRFs), multi-agency partnerships made up of representatives from local public services such as the NHS, local authorities, emergency services, and others.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence during the debate on Nuclear Test Veterans: Medical Records of 28 November 2023, Official Report, column 245WH, whether his Department has examined the 150 Atomic Weapons Establishment files.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I personally examined all 150 records at the Atomic Weapons Establishment on 18 March. I will update the House on plans for their release in due course.