§ Mr. ClayTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many(a) ex-service men and (b) widows of ex-service men are receiving benefits arising from their suffering from leukaemia or myeloma which is deemed to be attributable to, or aggravated by, service in the British nuclear test programme.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardThe war pensions scheme administered by the Department provides for pensions where there is reliable evidence which raises reasonable doubt that a condition is caused or aggravated by service, or that death was due to or substantially hastened by this. It is accepted that the evidence raises such a doubt in the case of participants in the British nuclear test programme who have contracted leukaemia (excluding chronic lymphatic leukaemia) or multiple myeloma. Any claim to a war pension by such service men or their widows is therefore likely to succeed. One war disablement pension and six war widows pensions have been awarded as a result.