Failure to provide accurate information in response to FOI requests

On 18 October 2011 MOD was asked for information about sites contaminated with Radium including those overseas


“Could you please provide the following information a list defence sites in the UK and overseas that have been or might have been contaminated with radium that have been disposed of since 1945. To provide details of radium disposals by on site burial, including amount of radioactivity activity, location and date since 1945.”


The MOD response can be found at the “What do they Know” website



The information provided also fails to identify the site at Hillsea Lines Portsmouth where radium has been disposed of by burial. 


This throws into doubt the accuracy and validity of the information the MOD provides in response to FOI requests.  In particular the unacceptable failings in corporate memory and breaches of statutory duty under the Freedom of Information Act to provide information held by the MOD.

The failing regime for managing contaminated land.

RNAS/RAF Pulham  provides a typical  example of a site potentially  contaminated with Radium 


The Government recently introduced a new regime for the management of contaminated land to protect both man and the environment.   Recent FOIs have been asked, to try to establish the extent of the  hazards and risk  arsing from historic contamination due to use of  radium as a luminising agent by the Ministry of Defence.  This issue was also subject to a detailed review by the Governments Radioactive Waste management Advisory committee (RWMAC).


The recent  concerns  about this  legacy of  radium contamination  and the potential risk to the public and environment has been highlighted by  the  discovery  that the beach at Dalgety Bay is far more extensively contaminated than previously thought  and the MODs extreme reluctance to admit liability. The MOD has also released a list of some of the sites where radium contamination is an issue.


What has become clear that MOD has little if any records about radium contamination for those parts of the defence estate disposed of between the end of the Second World War and the 1980s. What records that do exist are mainly clearance certificates which were concerned about unexploded ordnance and explosives and not with other contaminates such as Radium, heavy metals, asbestos, chemical weaopns or organic solvents.


In response to an FOI  it is clear With introduction of the contaminated land regime that the MOD policy is :- 


“The site was despised of in the early 1960s and predates the MOD Land Quality Assessment programme. The MOD there only holds the enclosed 1969 Clearance Certificate that might be relevant to your request.


I am advised that former sites such as this fall within the statutory responsibility of the Local authority to inspect the land in its area and identify any contaminated land. It is therefore suggested that any evidence of contamination you have should be brought to the attention of the Local Authority “


This effectively shuffles off any responsibility to identify contaminated land that the MOD once owned or controlled to the Local Authorities.  Local Authorities are very unlikely to hold any information about these sites and therefore are unlikely to have the means to identify whether or not such land is contaminated.  


It is clear that with the need to find cost savings MOD has lost the capability to assist local authorities in identifying contaminated defence land.  MOD may have  transferred information that would have helped to the National Archive or the information may have been lost or destroyed. 

I asked the Local Authority  “Could you please provide me with information about the nature and extent of radium contamination at RNAS/RAF Pulham in Norfolk Lat 52° 24.690'N long 1° 14.011'E”


“The historic past use by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) of part of the site many years ago for aircraft breaking raises the possibility of radium 226 contamination. The nature and extent of any possible contamination is being considered but formal investigations which require detailed planning have yet to be instigated. The Council is actively working with the Environment Agency, Health Protection Agency, MOD and others within the legal framework from government to clarify what action is appropriate to investigate the possibility of contamination.” 




The Wikipedia entry for RNAS/RAF Pulham says  “During World War II, Pulham Air Station was used as an aircraft salvage yard for the East of England, with several huge dumps of scrapped aircraft. The resultant contamination of the land is visible even today. The RAF used Pulham for storage and Maintenance Unit work until closure in 1958.” This activity appears to very similar to that at RNAS Donnibristle  which may have lead to the contamination of Dalgety Bay with Radium.

Conclusion


The lack of information to identify whether or radium contamination is present means that only a very expensive physical survey will provide an answer.
  
The lesson to be learnt is that it is important to retain knowledge and information over long periods of time if you wish to answer questions of liability and risk.

MOD policy on contaminated land and alienated sites

In response to a FOI request about how MOD responded to the recommendations contained in the 2000 report by RWMAC    “RWMAC's Advice to Ministers on The Ministry of Defence's Arrangements for Dealing with Radioactively Contaminated Land“. It is clear from the response to action 12 that the MOD has no intention of identifying  what contamination exists on land that it has disposed of prior to the LQA programme such as Dalgety Bay.  


It is also clear from the response to action 12 of the RWMAC report that MOD believes this responsibility lies with Local Authorities.  Local Authorities hold few if any records that would assist them in identifying contamination on former MOD sites let alone the financial resources to support such activity.  


I believe it is important for the safety of the environment and the public, that risks from defence related pollutants are identified and if necessary remediated.  Examples of such pollutants are :-

• radioactive substances such as  radium, 
• chemical weapon residues such as mustard gas, 
• asbestos, 
• organic solvents, 
• explosives and ammunition
• toxic heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium 

I also believe that it is the MODs’  responsibility to  identify where there is a legacy of pollution from defence activities  and where identified as the polluter, MOD should pay to for any clean up rather that  pushing off the responsibility onto poorly resourced local authorities  and council tax payers and Regulators 


RWMAC ACTION PLAN page 3 


Action 12
“MOD should give thought to the feasibility of compiling information on disposals of land predating the LQA programme, where radioactive contamination might have been involved.”


MOD response 


“The introduction of EPA 1990 Part 2A places the responsibility for inspecting land with the local authority to identify land contamination.”

Dalgety Bay and COMARE

It is interesting to note that Dalgety Bay is included in the current work
programme of the Committee on Medical Effects of Radiation in the Environment;
but in response to a FOI request COMARE said :-

"I can confirm that COMARE has not provided any advice to SEPA or MOD on
Dalgety Bay."

This begs a question as to what is the work is COMARE doing in relation to
Dalgety Bay and for whom?

One-third of deaths in Britain’s military caused by accidents

The Independent newspaper reports one-third of deaths in Britain’s military caused by accidents. The evidence is of a lasting legacy of damaged lives. It would be interesting to know if the these offical statistics were produced in accodrance with the Statistics Authority Code of Practice for Official Statistics and quality mark.