§ Mr. LivingstoneTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what follow-up medical checks have been carried out on workers who were employed at the former chemical warfare plant at Nancekuke in Cornwall; and what research has been carried out to assess the long-term effects on the health of workers who were exposed to chemicals during their employment ant Nancekuke. [6360]
§ Mr. SpellarThis is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency. I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from J. Chisholm to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 7 July 1997:
I have been asked to reply to your question about follow-up medical checks on workers who were employed at the former Chemical Defence Establishment at Nancekuke Cornwall, since this was an outstation of the Chemical & Biological Defence Sector at Porton Down which is now part of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency of which I am Chief Executive.The Chemical Defence Establishment Nancekuke closed in 1980, following a decision taken in the 1976 Defence Review. On closure its staff were either transferred elsewhere in the public service or left on voluntary early retirement or redundancy terms, since the large majority had arranged other employment.All the work at the site when it was operational would have been conducted according to the appropriate health and safety guidelines. The records do not show that any formal follow-up medical checking system to monitor the subsequent health of former employees were put in place at the closure of the establishment. I assume this would have been because staff would not have been generally exposed to chemical agents and it would not therefore have been felt necessary to carry out routine follow-up checks.The records that have been retrieved for Nancekuke indicate that for at least part of the pre-closure period during which equipment was being decontaminated and dismantled staff were subject to daily medical monitoring. There is also earlier evidence that as a result of the intervention of the local MP, the Registrar General conducted a statistical medical survey to trace all the deaths up to 1969 of all the persons employed at Nancekuke. His conclusion was that mortality rates were generally lower than the national average. This information was published in answer to a Parliamentary Question on 2 November 1970.