To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what assessment his Department has made of the effects on health of the use of body scanners that use X-ray technology. (309427)

Some body scanners are X-ray machines, so a very small dose of radiation is involved. Previous assessments carried out by the Health Protection Agency and St. Bartholomew's Hospital show the risk to be negligible in comparison to background radiation dose received from naturally occurring radiation. Further risk assessments are being obtained for future deployments.