Trade and Industry written question – answered at on 29 March 2006.
Peter Law
Independent, Blaenau Gwent
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many of the current complement of staff at the Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS) have a first degree or further qualification in (a) nuclear physics and (b) nuclear engineering; and what qualifications the OCNS (i) Director and (ii) Deputy Director holds.
Barry Gardiner
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Trade and Industry) (Delivery and Efficiency)
The current complement of staff at the Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS) is 42, including the administrative and security vetting teams. None of them holds first degrees or further qualifications in nuclear physics or nuclear engineering. The release of the information requested in respect of the qualifications of the Director and Deputy Director of OCNS would or would be likely to contravene the first Data Protection Principle.
As a security organisation, OCNS requires its staff to have a wide range of knowledge and expertise in all areas of security, including physical, information and personnel security. Knowledge of nuclear physics and nuclear engineering is desirable, but not essential. Where such knowledge is necessary, the advice of the relevant agencies is sought, in particular from the Nuclear Industries Inspectorate of the Health and Safety Executive, with whom OCNS maintain a close working relationship at all levels.
Yes7 people think so
No3 people think not
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Annotations
Ken Brookman
Posted on 31 Mar 2006 2:05 pm (Report this annotation)
Nice to know that staff at the nuclear security office do not need nuclear physics degrees. What a joke. That's like asking a porter in the hospital to have a medical degree. A much better question would be to ask what qualifications are held by peter Law and little dai. Does PL have an "O" level or equivalent in English? Does he have a qualification in Maths, Geography, history. or come to that ANYTHING?? I do have information and quite a few examples on these points but it would be nice if they were published by the gentleman concerned.
Richard Wendland
Posted on 25 Apr 2006 12:22 pm (Report this annotation)
DTI website says "Office for Civil Nuclear Security ... is the security regulator for the UK’s civil nuclear industry. It is responsible for approving security arrangements within the industry and enforcing compliance." So it is the regulator not the dogsbody (not a porter level job - covered by the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and civil nuclear operator staff). Having at least one person in the organisation to with a relevent nuclear degree to review site security plans does seem desirable to me.