§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consideration his Department has given to the report by Wing Commander Bill Coker concerning 889W illnesses suffered by service personnel since serving in the Gulf war; if he will publish the report; what assessment he has made of the percentage of people diagnosed as ill by Wing Commander Coker; and if he will now establish an independent medical inquiry.
§ Mr. SoamesContrary to media speculation, no such report exists. Gulf veterans who consider that their health has been adversely affected by their service in the Gulf continue to be assessed under the Department's medical assessment programme and detailed preliminary findings will be made public at an appropriate stage when sufficient have been examined to draw provisional conclusions. Of those seen so far, approximately 25 per cent. have been diagnosed as suffering from psychological conditions, 20 per cent. from a range of serious well-recognised medical conditions unrelated to service in the Gulf, 10 per cent. from chronic fatigue syndrome and the remainder from a range of minor physical ailments. None of the conditions has been found to be peculiar to service in the Gulf. There is no single illness, major or minor, common to those he has examined and no evidence to suggest the existence of a Gulf war syndrome. Consequently, there is no reason to establish an independent inquiry.