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Armed Forces Personnel (Records)

Volume 406: debated on Tuesday 3 June 2003

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To ask the Secretary of State for Defence where and in what form files of (a) personnel, (b) medical and (c) disciplinary records of members of Her Majesty's armed forces are stored after their death; how long these files are retained; and what access is available for interested parties. [115790]

The locations and formats of the personnel records, including medical and disciplinary records, of members of Her Majesty's Armed Forces who have died vary according to their Service and the age of the records. Service personnel records are now normally held by the Ministry of Defence for 100 years from date of birth for administrative purposes, with those records over 30 years old being retained with the authority of the Lord Chancellor.The surviving personnel records of those who served up to the early part of the last century are now publicly available in the National Archives at Kew, though the exact dates of the records available vary according to Service.Information from the records of deceased personnel still held by the MOD is normally only disclosed to the next of kin or to those authorities with a legitimate reason to receive the information, such as HM Coroner or the Police. Otherwise it is Departmental policy to obtain the consent of the next of kin as part of the consideration for a request for disclosure. Access to the medical records of deceased service personnel is normally governed by the Access to Medical Health Records Act 1990. Outside this, medical information is not normally disclosed without the consent of the personal representative or the next of kin.