Rebecca Long-Bailey – 2022 Parliamentary Question on Exposing Military to Nuclear Weapons Testing in 1950s

The parliamentary question asked by Rebecca Long-Bailey, the Labour MP for Salford and Eccles, in the House of Commons on 16 November 2022.

Rebecca Long-Bailey (Salford and Eccles) (Lab)

A 1958 instruction from Whitehall ordered medics to take blood samples regularly from exposed veterans during nuclear weapons tests. I have been made aware that many veterans and their families have been reported being unable to obtain the test results, so are denied the ability to make any sense of what they, and in some cases their families, suffered. Will the Deputy Prime Minister investigate and inform me of the legal rights of these men to obtain their medical records? Will he undertake to ask the Prime Minister to order that the medical files be opened to veterans and the UK Health Security Agency immediately?

The Deputy Prime Minister (Dominic Raab)

I thank the hon. Lady, who has been a consistent champion on this issue, for which I recognise and pay tribute to her. My understanding is that the information is available to veterans and their families, who may request details of their service and medical records, but if the hon. Lady would like to write to me, I will make sure that she gets an adequate answer on her more specific point.