Public Office (Accountability) Bill — Written evidence submitted by Steve Foote (POAB21)

3rd December 2025
Public Office (Accountability) Bill 2025: Call for Evidence
To whom it may concern,
My name is Steve Foote. I am the son of the late John Foote who was a British
Nuclear Test Veteran. He served in the Royal Navy as an able seaman on HMS
Narvik during Operation Grapple Y and Z at Christmas Island in 1958. He
witnessed 5 nuclear bomb detonations. I was born in 1963 a year before my father
left the Navy. Although very fortunate compared to many other descendants, I was
born with very poor eyesight and a lazy eye. My mother and father wanted more
children but were unable to have them. A few years after I was born my father had
testicular cancer. My 25 year old daughter is autistic and suffers panic attacks. My
21 year old son has a chest deformity which is undiagnosed but fortunately does
not seem to cause him trouble. Although I consider my family to be fortunate
relative to many other nuclear test veterans families, I still worry about any future
health implications for my children and myself. Like every nuclear test veterans
family we worry about the implications for any future generations.
In 2022 I began the process of trying to gain access to my late father’s naval
medical records. I also joined the LABRATS International campaign for justice and
accountability for the British Nuclear Test Veterans and their families. The
experience of trying to gain access to the medical records and hearing other
descendants and veterans experiences has lead to me submitting this evidence.
I hope that this bill would mean that in future others would not have to suffer the
lies and deceit that we have. The truth about how our nuclear test veterans were
treated has been subject to a cover-up that has been continued by the Ministry of
Defence and successive governments for over 70 years.
I was continually blocked from gaining access to my late father’s medical records.
The documentation that they require such as birth certificate and death certificate
are deliberately drip fed to delay as much as possible. Having provided all the
documentation they had asked for, I was told that I had not provided all the
necessary documentation. When I asked what other documentation they required,
they did not reply. I had clearly proven my executorship but the naval secretariat
refused to acknowledge that I had done so. Eventually unlike many descendants I
did gain access to my father’s medical records. This was because after my local
MP wrote to the Minister for Veterans who decided to personally sign off on me
receiving the medical records. However when I received the records most of them
were found to be missing. This includes most of my father’s annual medical exams
and anything during his time at the nuclear tests. In the index of the records there
are 3 chest x-rays listed. One taken in March 1957 before my father served at the

tests. Another taken at Pearl Harbour in-between the Grapple Y and Grapple Z
tests and another taken a couple of years after the tests. The x-rays themselves,
the results of the x-rays and reason for them being taken is missing from the
medical records. I have made further enquiries about these x-rays. The Atomic
Weapons Establishment say they no nothing about them. The naval secretariat will
not even reply to my emails and engage with me.
According to documents released last year my father should have had a blood test
taken before leaving for the nuclear tests and also should have had blood tests
taken during the tests. If these were taken they are also absent from his medical
records.
The whole process of trying to gain access to the medical records and attempting
to get answers about the missing records has been totally and utterly draining. I
feel that I have been lied to and gaslit. The MoD seems to treat us with total and
utter contempt. They consider us an inconvenience.
The states claim that our servicemen were not put in harms way is a complete total
and utter lie. There is evidence that blood and urine tests were carried out and
some veterans remember this being done.
The MoD has spent millions of taxpayers money to continue to cover-up and deny
the veterans and their families the truth and justice that they deserve.
The bill could have prevented so much of this. A full duty of candour would have
stopped the MoD lies and those responsible would be held accountable. The MoD
seems to continue to believe that when the last veteran dies the problem will go
away. It will not because descendants will continue to fight until justice is done and
the truth is told.
I strongly urge the government to pass this bill. I recommend the following:
* A full duty of candour with real consequences and no exceptions.
* Those at the top that are in charge should be held personally accountable
* All public authorities including the MoD and intelligence services should be
subject to the duty of candour and duty to assist.
* Families should have full legal parity
I wish for the above to be taken into consideration. The law must not be watered
down in any way. The culture of cover-ups must be ended forever. No individual or
family should be subjected to lies and deceit by those that hold power, ever again.
Yours sincerely
Steve Foote