§ Mr. TylerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what representations he has received on behalf of police officers relating to possible health hazards caused by the TETRA mobile phone communication system; [117594]
(2) if he will publish the available technical, scientific and medical data relating to the use of the TETRA mobile phone system by police forces; and if he will make a statement. [117595]
§ Mr. Bob AinsworthWe have received several letters from chief police officers and from the Police Federation on health concerns relating to the new TETRA mobile radio system for the police service. We have also received helpful feedback directly from police officers through a series of seminars on TETRA health issues held across the country over the last 10 months.
The Home Office has taken advice from independent experts. The experts concluded that TETRA technology was unlikely to pose a risk to health and recommended further research to address remaining areas of uncertainty. Results from the extensive programme of work we set up in response to those recommendations are now becoming available. No effects of TETRA technology on health have been found so far.
Updates on our TETRA health programme are regularly published on the Home Office web site http:// www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs/tetra.html, where interim reports can be found. Full results will be published in due course in scientific journals. The same publication strategy will be adopted for the national health monitoring study of police TETRA users we have recently announced.