§ Mr. Foulkesasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what assessment he has made as to how many children in Scotland (a) unborn, (b) aged up to 12 months, (c) aged 12 months to five years and (d) aged five years to 16 years on 2 May 1986 are as a result of the Chernobyl accident likely to receive first-year radiation doses of 1 millisievert or more to (i) the whole body and (ii) the thyroid gland; and what the values of dose received will be by 1 millisievert bands;
(2) what assessment he has made of the maximum radiation doses (a) to the whole body and (b) to the thyroid gland which might be received by any individual 207W Scottish child as a result of the Chernobyl accident in the year May 1986 to May 1987 and in the four years May 1987 to May 1991.
§ Mr. John MacKayThe controls applied following the deposition of radioactivity from the Chernobyl accident were designed to ensure that people in Scotland were protected in accordance with the recommendations of the International Commission on Radiation Protection and the advice of the National Radiological Protection Board. That advice includes lower and upper values of radiation dose at which counter-measures should he considered, and taken, respectively. The most restrictive of the recommended lower levels are 5 millisieverts and 50 millisieverts, for the whole body and the thyroid respectively. Early estimates of radiation dose, published by the NRPB, indicated doses below these levels. The NRPB is currently undertaking more detailed calculations: the results will be published shortly.