PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Radiation Exposure (13 May 2019)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the EU Directive 96/29/Euratom on safety standards relating to ionizing radiation, how the national register of persons potentially exposed to ionizing radiation can be accessed; and whether that register includes service personnel who have taken part in nuclear testing.

Asked by:
Sir John Hayes (Conservative)

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) holds a national dose register of classified radiation workers known as the Central Index of Dosage Information (CIDI). This register is maintained in accordance with the Council Directive 2013/59 Euratom, replacing earlier directives, including 96/29/Euratom. The definition of a classified radiation worker is a person who works with ionising radiation and who could be exposed to higher levels of ionising radiation during normal work and also under certain accident conditions. It is designated Approved Dosimetry Services (ADS’s), approved by HSE, that submit this radiation exposure information annually to CIDI.

The CIDI is only accessible by three authorised HSE personnel. Only ADS’s may request information for medical surveillance purposes (e.g. if a classified worker moves employer) and these requests are considered on a case-by-case basis. Only authorised persons within an ADS are able to submit annual returns to the CIDI database via a secure password protected portal and cannot access data held within the database itself.

Atomic Nuclear weapons testing by the UK took place before the establishment of CIDI. Therefore, CIDI does not contain any radiation exposure data for service personnel who may have been exposed to ionising radiation as a result of nuclear testing at the time.

Answered by:
Justin Tomlinson (Conservative)
21 May 2019