Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many former service personnel have waited over four months for their medical records to be released by the Defence Medical Service to their civilian GP.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
When an individual leaves the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises the importance of facilitating the transfer of healthcare information to their civilian healthcare provider(s).
On leaving Defence Medical Services (DMS) care, Service personnel are provided with a medical care summary, known as an FMed133, and advised to register with an NHS GP and provide them a copy of their FMED 133.
If a patient’s full DMS health record is required, this is provided on request from their NHS GP. Given this and that some records are never requested, no accurate estimate can be made of the average time from discharge to the receipt of the medical records by the NHS GP.
To improve the transfer of healthcare information, DMS is working towards the greater interoperability with NHS systems and the electronic transfer of medical records from DMS to NHS GPs and expects to implement changes over the next 1-2 years.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to reduce the time taken for the Defence Medical Service to release veterans’ medical records to their GP.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
When an individual leaves the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises the importance of facilitating the transfer of healthcare information to their civilian healthcare provider(s).
On leaving Defence Medical Services (DMS) care, Service personnel are provided with a medical care summary, known as an FMed133, and advised to register with an NHS GP and provide them a copy of their FMED 133.
If a patient’s full DMS health record is required, this is provided on request from their NHS GP. Given this and that some records are never requested, no accurate estimate can be made of the average time from discharge to the receipt of the medical records by the NHS GP.
To improve the transfer of healthcare information, DMS is working towards the greater interoperability with NHS systems and the electronic transfer of medical records from DMS to NHS GPs and expects to implement changes over the next 1-2 years.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average time taken is for the Defence Medical Service to release a veteran’s medical record post discharge from the Armed Services.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
When an individual leaves the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises the importance of facilitating the transfer of healthcare information to their civilian healthcare provider(s).
On leaving Defence Medical Services (DMS) care, Service personnel are provided with a medical care summary, known as an FMed133, and advised to register with an NHS GP and provide them a copy of their FMED 133.
If a patient’s full DMS health record is required, this is provided on request from their NHS GP. Given this and that some records are never requested, no accurate estimate can be made of the average time from discharge to the receipt of the medical records by the NHS GP.
To improve the transfer of healthcare information, DMS is working towards the greater interoperability with NHS systems and the electronic transfer of medical records from DMS to NHS GPs and expects to implement changes over the next 1-2 years.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to establish an MPs' hotline for the Defence Business Services.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
There are no plans to establish a hotline for Members of Parliament to contact Defence Business Services officials.
Ministers are accountable for the policies, decisions and actions of their Departments. Parliamentarians have direct access to Ministers, and any information they require from the Department should be provided by Ministers.
This guidance is intended to ensure that only accurate and releasable information is provided to Parliament and that Ministers can assure themselves of that before it is released.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2025 to Question 31001 on Veterans: War Pensions, how many and what proportion of British nuclear test veterans have a radiation dose record; how many and what proportion of veterans have a radiation dose record for every tour they undertook; and whether his Department plans to provide compensation to British Nuclear Test Veterans whose records are (a) missing and (b) otherwise unavailable.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
This Government is deeply grateful to all those who participated in the UK nuclear testing programme. We recognise their Service and the huge contribution they have made to the UK’s security.
I am committed to looking into questions around medical records. That is why I have commissioned officials to look into what information the Department holds in relation to the medical testing of Service personnel who took part in the UK nuclear weapons tests. This is a priority and is now underway.
Altogether there were around 22,000 participants in the nuclear weapons tests, of which up to just over 6,000 veterans were involved in two or more operations. Dose monitoring records are available for 4,807 (23%) of the around 22,000 veterans considered in the most recent analysis of the data in the Nuclear Weapons Test Participants Study – a long-term epidemiological study of the health of veterans who were present at UK nuclear testing between 1952 and 1967. It has been undertaken by the National Radiological Protection Board and Cancer Research UK (formerly the Imperial Cancer Research Fund) following a commission from the Ministry of Defence in 1983. There have been four studies completed to date, which so far have concluded that Nuclear Test Veterans have a similar incidence of cancer and, in general, a longer healthy life expectancy that the control group of individuals.
Nuclear Test Veterans are already entitled to apply for compensation under the War Pension Scheme. There is no time limit for claiming, however if a claim is made more than seven years after termination of service, as would be the case for Nuclear Test Veterans, the claimant is granted the benefit of doubt when there is uncertainty about whether the disablement is linked to or worsened by their service. Factors such as being on operations or in a hazardous environment can support a service-related claim. Claims handlers will review historical records, including medical records, to establish a causal link to service for Nuclear Test Veterans seeking compensation.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2025 to Question 31001 on Veterans: War Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the level of the burden on British nuclear test veterans applying to the War Pension Scheme to prove they had experienced a radiation dose.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
This Government is deeply grateful to all those who participated in the UK nuclear testing programme. We recognise their Service and the huge contribution they have made to the UK’s security.
I am committed to looking into questions around medical records. That is why I have commissioned officials to look into what information the Department holds in relation to the medical testing of Service personnel who took part in the UK nuclear weapons tests. This is a priority and is now underway.
Altogether there were around 22,000 participants in the nuclear weapons tests, of which up to just over 6,000 veterans were involved in two or more operations. Dose monitoring records are available for 4,807 (23%) of the around 22,000 veterans considered in the most recent analysis of the data in the Nuclear Weapons Test Participants Study – a long-term epidemiological study of the health of veterans who were present at UK nuclear testing between 1952 and 1967. It has been undertaken by the National Radiological Protection Board and Cancer Research UK (formerly the Imperial Cancer Research Fund) following a commission from the Ministry of Defence in 1983. There have been four studies completed to date, which so far have concluded that Nuclear Test Veterans have a similar incidence of cancer and, in general, a longer healthy life expectancy that the control group of individuals.
Nuclear Test Veterans are already entitled to apply for compensation under the War Pension Scheme. There is no time limit for claiming, however if a claim is made more than seven years after termination of service, as would be the case for Nuclear Test Veterans, the claimant is granted the benefit of doubt when there is uncertainty about whether the disablement is linked to or worsened by their service. Factors such as being on operations or in a hazardous environment can support a service-related claim. Claims handlers will review historical records, including medical records, to establish a causal link to service for Nuclear Test Veterans seeking compensation.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2025 to Question 31001 on Veterans: War Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of dose records kept by the Atomic Weapons Establishment.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
This Government is deeply grateful to all those who participated in the UK nuclear testing programme. We recognise their Service and the huge contribution they have made to the UK’s security.
I am committed to looking into questions around medical records. That is why I have commissioned officials to look into what information the Department holds in relation to the medical testing of Service personnel who took part in the UK nuclear weapons tests. This is a priority and is now underway.
Altogether there were around 22,000 participants in the nuclear weapons tests, of which up to just over 6,000 veterans were involved in two or more operations. Dose monitoring records are available for 4,807 (23%) of the around 22,000 veterans considered in the most recent analysis of the data in the Nuclear Weapons Test Participants Study – a long-term epidemiological study of the health of veterans who were present at UK nuclear testing between 1952 and 1967. It has been undertaken by the National Radiological Protection Board and Cancer Research UK (formerly the Imperial Cancer Research Fund) following a commission from the Ministry of Defence in 1983. There have been four studies completed to date, which so far have concluded that Nuclear Test Veterans have a similar incidence of cancer and, in general, a longer healthy life expectancy that the control group of individuals.
Nuclear Test Veterans are already entitled to apply for compensation under the War Pension Scheme. There is no time limit for claiming, however if a claim is made more than seven years after termination of service, as would be the case for Nuclear Test Veterans, the claimant is granted the benefit of doubt when there is uncertainty about whether the disablement is linked to or worsened by their service. Factors such as being on operations or in a hazardous environment can support a service-related claim. Claims handlers will review historical records, including medical records, to establish a causal link to service for Nuclear Test Veterans seeking compensation.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2025 to Question 31001 on Veterans: War Pensions, what the minimum recordable level of radiation dose is for establishing radiation exposure.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
Exposure to a measurable level of ionising radiation is determined by a radiological dosimetry specialist report. Specialist reports are obtained from Defence Radiation and Protection Services and Atomic Weapons Establishment as they hold the relevant records and dosimetry.
Personal dosimeters used by nuclear test veterans were of the passive film badge type which embody a piece of film material sensitive to radiation. When processed, the degree of darkening of the film, if any, indicates the level of radiation exposure. The film badges are sensitive down to 0·2 millisievert (20 millirem).
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2025 to Question 31001 on Veterans: War Pensions, what the average acceptance rate is for applications made by (a) British nuclear test and (b) other veterans to the War Pension Scheme.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The War Pensions Computer System has no facility to uniquely identify those who participated in the nuclear tests. The paper claim file may include a copy of the Nuclear Test Veterans (NTV) Priority Claim Request or additional information on whether the claimant was involved in nuclear testing, however this information is not always present.
To accurately identify the number of NTVs who applied for, and received compensation would involve a manual interrogation of all War Pension files and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The average outcome rates for cleared first claims under the War Pension Scheme for the past ten years can be found in the table below:
Outcome rates of cleared First Claims1 under the War Pension Scheme by financial year, percentages2.
1 April 2014 – 31 March 2024
Claim Type | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Successful3 | 74% | 75% | 74% | 75% | 76% | 73% | 75% | 71% | 72% | 67% |
Awarded 0% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 16% | 16% | 16% | 14% | 18% | 17% | 21% |
Rejected | 8% | 8% | 9% | 9% | 9% | 11% | 11% | 11% | 12% | 12% |
Sources: War Pensions Computer System (WPCS)
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to reduce barriers to application to the War Pensions Scheme for British Nuclear Test Veterans.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
Nuclear Test Veterans who believe they have suffered ill health due to service have the right to apply for no-fault compensation under the War Pension Scheme (WPS) and have the same access to the scheme as any other veteran, with each application being assessed on its individual merits. War Disablement Pensions are medically certified with relevant material facts including on claimed incidents, events, and exposures.
There is not a specific Nuclear Test Veteran claim form for compensation under the WPS. However, a supplementary form is available which allows for Nuclear Test Veteran specific information to be provided at the point of claim, reducing potential delays arising from seeking this information.
The Veterans Welfare Service offers assistance to all veterans throughout the application process.
An information leaflet for claiming compensation for conditions relating to exposure to ionising radiation can be accessed through the gov.uk website at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5f461d0ae90e074c4d303333/NTVleaflet.pdf