§ 23. Mr. Strangasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to complete the work on revising the calculations of the likely number of casualties arising from the effects of a nuclear bomb.
§ Mr. MayhewThe work is very detailed and complex and will take several more months to complete.
§ Mr. StrangPerhaps that is not surprising with the possibility of an election in the offing. Is the Minister aware of the wide concern among professional people who have made a study of these matters about the total inadequacy of the Government's initial casualty figures? Was the decision to reappraise the assumptions contained in these calculations caused by the British Medical Association's report, which came out in favour of the figures produced by Scientists Against Nuclear Arms?
§ Mr. MayhewIt was not. It was in train some time before then. I am aware of the great concern in the country about the view taken by a large number of Labour-controlled councils that nothing is to be done in the form of civil defence to protect people against the risk of attack. The right view held by most people on these matters is that it is a humanitarian duty to protect people from the effects of an attack, which we all hope will never come, but which would leave millions of survivors in need of help.