Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have the necessary security clearance to access the (i) Merlin database and (ii) documentation stored on the Merlin database pertaining to the nuclear test programme and its veterans.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
As set out in the answer I gave on 23 January to Question 10374 from the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey), seven officials at the Atomic Weapons Establishment have appropriate clearance and are authorised to access the Merlin database.
All Ministers hold clearances appropriate to their roles and responsibilities. As the Minister responsible in the Ministry of Defence for veteran's affairs I retain the relevant clearances to view the information retained on Merlin.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether classified documents retained by his Department under a Lord Chancellor’s Instruction citing a national security exemption are among the files available to be searched when his Department receives a Freedom of Information request which may include personal data held within it.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
All classified documents that have been retained by the Ministry of Defence under the national security exemptions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Data Protection Act 2018 are available to be searched on receipt of Data Subject Access Requests, Freedom of Information Requests and questions to the Secretary of State or other Ministers in the Department.
If, after location and review of the classified documents, it is deemed that release of any/all of the information would still prejudice national security, then it may continue to be withheld by law.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether classified documents retained by his department under a Lord Chancellor’s Instruction citing a national security exemption are among the files available to be searched when his Department receives a Data Subject Access Request which may include personal data held within it.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
All classified documents that have been retained by the Ministry of Defence under the national security exemptions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Data Protection Act 2018 are available to be searched on receipt of Data Subject Access Requests, Freedom of Information Requests and questions to the Secretary of State or other Ministers in the Department.
If, after location and review of the classified documents, it is deemed that release of any/all of the information would still prejudice national security, then it may continue to be withheld by law.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether classified documents retained by his Department under a Lord Chancellor’s Instruction citing a national security exemption are among the files available to be searched when his Department receives a question to the Secretary of State or other Minister in the Department.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
All classified documents that have been retained by the Ministry of Defence under the national security exemptions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Data Protection Act 2018 are available to be searched on receipt of Data Subject Access Requests, Freedom of Information Requests and questions to the Secretary of State or other Ministers in the Department.
If, after location and review of the classified documents, it is deemed that release of any/all of the information would still prejudice national security, then it may continue to be withheld by law.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
If he will bring forward proposals to allow veterans to apply for access to their biological monitoring tests conducted during their service.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Veterans or members of their family are already entitled to request information that may be held by the Ministry of Defence, including medical test results, through Subject Access Requests. Information is provided on request to individuals, or representatives acting on their behalf, under General Data Protection Regulation, Chapter 3, Article 15 – Right of access.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals has discussed the updated application for medallic recognition for British Nuclear Test Veterans in between August and October 2022; when a decision on that matter will be published.
Answered by James Heappey
There is a well-established process in place for the approval of historic military medals claims. These are considered by the independent Advisory-Military Sub-Committee, which then provides advice to the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals (HD Committee). All recommendations regarding the awarding of official medals must go through proper due process and will be announced in the usual way.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the report to Prime Minister Churchill’s Cabinet, and minutes thereof, on the result of the British atomic test at Monte Bello in 1952, as referenced in the Official Report, 4 February 1983, vol 36 c209W, has been released under the 30-year rule.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The British atomic test at Monte Bello in 1952 was the first test of a British atomic device and consequently there are many records on this subject. Some have been released to The National Archives, but many contain sensitive technical information about the United Kingdom's nuclear weapons programme and are retained. It has not been possible to determine which record may contain the report and minutes in question, due to the limited details on them and the time that has elapsed since the answer referenced in Official Report, 4 February 1983.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 23 May 2019 to Question 256302, what records his Department holds on the civilian (a) women and (b) children who travelled to Christmas Island on troop ship HMT Dunera in 1958.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
A search of the Ministry of Defence Archive has been conducted and no records of HMT Dunera have been traced.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) health measures and (b) radiobiological monitoring did the Government introduce after the British Nuclear Test Programme ended in 1991 for (i) all service personnel involved in the operations, (ii) all indigenous peoples living near or on the test sites during or after the time of operations, (iii) any others locally present during operations or now living near the test sites.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The UK atmospheric nuclear test programme experimented on weapons not Service personnel; the health of all those involved was a vital consideration, as shown by the detailed documented safety measures and radiobiological monitoring that took place during experiments. The Service personnel who took part were not subject to ongoing routine health measures or radiobiological monitoring after the programme ended. To date, any published peer-reviewed research has found no evidence of a general excess of illness or mortality among nuclear test veterans as a group that could be linked to their participation in the tests. Any 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 Pensions Scheme.
In 1968, the UK and Australia signed an agreement confirming that the clean-up of all test sites had been completed satisfactorily. As announced to the House on 10 December 1993, (Official Report, column 421), the Government agreed to make an ex gratia payment of £20 million to the Federal Government of Australia as part of a full and final settlement of the UK Government’s liability for any claims resulting from the British test programme. A copy of the note giving effect to this agreement was placed in the Library of the House. The note also records that the Government of Australia indemnified the Government of the UK against claims from Australian nationals or residents. The Government now regards the matter as closed.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the potential effects of the British Nuclear Test Programme 1952 - 1991, what assessment (a) his Department has and (b) other Government Departments have made of internationally published peer-reviewed evidence on increased rates of congenital defects in children born to parents at risk of exposure to ionising radiation.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The position of this, and previous Governments, is that there is no published peer-reviewed evidence of excess illness or mortality among Nuclear Test Veterans (NTVs) as a group that could be linked to participation in the tests or to exposure to radiation as a result of that participation. Formal and well-documented procedures were in place to ensure the health and safety of those participating in the testing programme.
In response to health concerns of some NTVs in the 1980s, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) commissioned epidemiological studies into the mortality and cancer incidence among nuclear test participants. These were conducted by the independent National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB), now part of Public Health England (PHE). Three analyses were carried out, of which the latest report published in 2003 concluded that overall levels of mortality and cancer incidence in NTVs have continued to be similar to those in a matched Service control group and lower than in the general population. That report is available from the following link:
To provide further reassurance, the MOD commissioned a fourth study in the NRPB series in order to bring the evidence completely up to date. The study was carried out by PHE and commenced in December 2018. The study will extend the analysis by a further almost 20 years, again considering overall mortality and cancer incidence and mortality, and comparing veterans present at the tests with a control group of age matched veterans serving at the same time, but who were not NTVs, and with the UK general population. The Department's understanding is that the study has been completed and the researchers are preparing a paper for submission to a mainstream scientific/medical journal. This will then be peer reviewed. Further details about the study are available at the following link:
Analysis of the international published peer-reviewed evidence to date provides no support for increased rates of congenital defects in children born to parents at risk of exposure to ionising radiation.