Written question asked by Mark Todd (Labour) on Wednesday, 30 October 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 4 November 2002. It was answered by Lord Moonie (Labour) on Monday, 4 November 2002 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of compensation offered to service personnel of other states who participated in UK nuclear tests.

Answer: Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of compensation offered to service personnel of other states who participated in UK nuclear tests. [79185] Dr. Moonie: Australian and New Zealand personnel who participated in the British nuclear test programme and who believe that they were injured or suffered a loss as a result of their participation are entitled to claim compensation from their own governments. However, the Governments of Australia and New Zealand have vigorously defended compensation claims on the grounds that particular regard was taken for the safety and welfare of test participants, and in the absence of evidence of negligence, there is no proper basis for settling the claims. I understand that no compensation has been paid to individual New Zealand veterans, but that 10 Australian veterans have secured compensation from the Australian Government.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 79185; 392 c65W
Session: 2001-02
Subjects: Compensation Australia Nuclear weapons Radiation exposure New Zealand Testing Veterans
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk