Radiation Dose Records (Hansard, 17 December 1997)

§ Mr Shaw
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made to date on entering the pre-1979 personal radiation dose records onto an electronic database for ex-employees, at the Chatham Dockyard; when this is expected to be completed; and when and in what format the data are to be published. [20465]

§ Mr. Spellar
My Department has completed the process of scanning onto the Dosimetry Information Database all the available dosimetry documents from the former Dockyard at Chatham that are not part of an Approved Dosimetry Service. This includes all such records from before 1979. The database complements the approved Dosimetry Service records and will allow searches for all of the information relating to an individual to be carried out much more speedily than in the past.
The database contains personal data and it will not therefore be published.

§ Mr. Shaw
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of the people who have registered for the national counselling scheme in respect of exposure to radiation were informed that their adaption dose records could not be found; and, of these, how many were designated as(a) classified persons and (b) approved scheme workers under the approved dosimetry scheme that operated at their respective places of employment at the time of their employment. [20463]

§ Mr. Spellar
To date we have been unable to find radiation dose records for thirty four applicants to the national counselling scheme. Of these applicants none has been identified as a classified person and at least three were approved scheme workers.

§ Mr. Shaw
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of the individuals who have registered for the counselling scheme announced on 4 June, for whom no dose records could be found, were designated(a) classified persons and (b) approved scheme workers under the approved dosimetry scheme which operated at the Chatham Dockyard at the time of their employment. [20464]

§ Mr. Spellar
None of the individuals who have registered for the counselling scheme announced on 4 June and for whom no dose records can be found has been identified as a designated classified person. At least three were approved scheme workers.