HC Deb 22 October 2003 vol 411 cc589-90W
Mr. Tyler

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish the letter from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence to Lord Morris of Manchester of 9 October, on vaccines used for UK troops deployed in the 1990–91 Gulf War; and what steps he is taking to prevent recurrence of the problems identified. [132897]

Mr. Caplin

[holding answer 20 October 2003]: The text of the letter (reference: D/MIN(DP)/WB/13/1/2/3) was published in the House of Lords on 9 October 2003, Official Report, columns WA 67–79. A copy of the letter was placed in the Library of this House on 10 October.

Subsequent analysis of the 1990–91 Gulf Conflict revealed shortcomings at the time in medical record keeping and medical preparedness. In October 2001 the Ministry of Defence published the paper: "Medical Records in the Gulf" which explained how the Service medical documentation system was used during that conflict and the generic reasons why a medical record may no longer exist. The paper is available on the internet at: http:www.mod.ukyissues/gulfwar/info/m

Since that conflict, we have made significant improvements in medical record keeping through the introduction of a new operational medical record. This does ensure that health events while on deployment are more systematically recorded than in the past. Care is taken to ensure that accurate records are maintained by recording all vaccinations on individuals' medical records. Further improvements in medical record keeping will be achieved over the next few years with the progressive introduction of new information technology systems. A number of personnel were not up to date with their Service standard vaccinations. Our policy guidance has been modified to ensure that all troops are now immunised routinely. In June 2002, we announced that our Voluntary Immunisation Programme against anthrax would be expanded, in phases, to the whole of the Armed Forces, including reserves and those essential civilians who were likely to deploy on operations, beginning with those units that were held at the highest readiness. This takes account of lessons identified post the 1990–91 Gulf Conflict.