§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many representations he has received on the subject of compensation for members of the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HanleyAbout 40 representations have been received on this matter from hon. Members since the beginning of the year.
§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his Department's policy to compensate those veterans who were exposed to damaging levels of radiation during testing between 1952 and 1967; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HanleyThe Government would consider sympathetically a claim for compensation on behalf of any ex-service man who suffered illness from radiation through participation in the British atmospheric nuclear test programme. Not a single case of illness, however, has ever been shown to have been so caused. Almost all the personnel involved received little or no radiation from the nuclear tests. There is no evidence of increased mortality or of increased overall cancer incidence among British nuclear test veterans.