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30 Jun 2003 : Column 38W—continued

Fred Nerac and Hussein Osman

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what action the Military Police in the Basra region has taken to investigate the whereabouts of Fred Nerac and Hussein Osman; and if he will make a statement. [116225]

Mr. Ingram: In the light of information that came to light last month, the Royal Military Police Special Investigation Branch have begun an investigation into the disappearance of Fred Nerac and Hussein Osman. Prior to this, and subject to the constraints of the security situation on the ground, British troops in southern Iraq, including members of the Royal Military Police, provided ITN investigators with whatever assistance they reasonably could in trying to establish what had happened.

General Service Medal (Suez)

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the detailed qualification criteria for the General Service Medal for those who served in the Suez Canal Zone 1951–54 to be (a) formulated and (b) made public; whether broad qualification criteria will be made public beforehand; and if he will make a statement. [121308]

Mr. Caplin: My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced on 11 June 2003, Official Report, column 869W, that Suez veterans who served in the Canal Zone between 1951 and 1954 are to be awarded the General Service Medal. Following that announcement the detailed work is now being carried out by the Ministry of Defence for eventual presentation to Her Majesty for approval. It is too early to judge when this work will be concluded.

Health Care Initiatives

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the (a) Army Training and Recruiting Agency Secondary Healthcare Initiative, (b) Waiting List Initiative and (c) Rapid Treatment Initiative. [121309]

Mr. Caplin: The Army Training and Recruiting Agency's (ATRA) secondary healthcare initiative was formally introduced on 1 April 2001 and remains in operation. Personnel eligible for treatment under the scheme are ATRA trainers or trainees referred by their unit General Practitioner for investigation, opinion and/or treatment for a condition which is preventing them from continuing with their employment or training. Personnel are referred only when lengthy waiting times occur at the local Ministry of Defence Hospital Unit or

30 Jun 2003 : Column 39W

NHS hospital. The initiative has proved successful in reducing the average waiting time for both consultation and treatment, enabling trainers and trainees to return to work or training more quickly. The scheme is kept under constant review.

The Waiting List Initiative and the Rapid Treatment Initiative were schemes run by the then Defence Secondary Care Agency in 2000–01 and January 2002 respectively. Some 2000 referrals were made under the two schemes, which were successful in treating personnel more quickly than would otherwise have been possible and in returning many of them to full fitness. Experience gained from these two initiatives will be relevant to further fast-track treatment initiatives in the future.

Infantry Deployment

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which infantry regiments were deployed on Operation (a) Joint Guardian, (b) Essential Harvest, (c) Palliser, (d) Fingal, (e) Veritas and (f) Telic. [120874]

Mr. Ingram: The information requested is set out as follows:

Operation Veritas is the overarching operational name given to Operations in Afghanistan, encompassing Operations Oracle, Jacana, and Fingal. No infantry battalions were deployed on either Operations Oracle or Jacana, and the infantry regiments deployed on Operation Fingal are detailed separately.

Operation Joint Guardian

1 Battalion The Irish Guards


1 Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment


1 Battalion The Parachute Regiment


2 Battalion The Royal Green Jackets


2 Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers


1 Battalion The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment


1 Battalion The Duke of Wellington's Regiment


1 Battalion The Black Watch


1 Battalion The Royal Regiment of Wales


1 Battalion The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment


1 Battalion The Staffordshire Regiment


1 Battalion The Duke of Wellington's Regimentl

Operation Essential Harvest

2 Battalion The Parachute Regiment

Operation Palliser

1 Battalion The Parachute Regiment

Operation Fingal

2 Battalion The Parachute Regiment


1 Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment


2 Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment

Operation Telic

1 Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers


1 Battalion The Black Watch


1 Battalion The Duke of Wellington's Regiment


1 Battalion The Parachute Regiment


3 Battalion The Parachute Regiment


1 Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment


1 Battalion Irish Guardsl


I Battalion Light Infantry ¹


¹ Company level only.

30 Jun 2003 : Column 40W

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which infantry regiments have undertaken BATUS training exercises in each of the past five years. [120876]

Mr. Ingram: The infantry units that have trained in BATUS during the last five years are listed as follows:

1998

1st Battalion The Green Howards


1st Battalion Irish Guards

1999

2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers

2000

C Company, 1st Battalion The Staffordshire Regiment


C Company, 1st Battalion The Royal Highland Fusiliers


1st Battalion The Queen's Lancashire Regiment


2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment

2001

1st Battalion Irish Guards


1st Battalion The Staffordshire Regiment


1st Battalion Welsh Guards

2002

1st Battalion The Black Watch


1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers


1st Battalion The Kings Regiment


1st Battalion The King's Own Scottish Borderers

2003

1st Battalion The Light Infantry


1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Wales


1st Battalion The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshire)


1st Battalion The Cheshire Regiment

Maintenance Costs

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how often reviews are undertaken of the cost-effectiveness of contracts that the Ministry of Defence and its agencies have with outside contractors for the maintenance of Ministry of Defence (a) equipment, (b) civil establishments, (c) military establishments and (d) IT equipment. [121249]

Mr. Ingram: The Ministry of Defence places on average around 40,000 contracts per year. The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Iraq

Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how large the task force is which is looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq broken down by (a) scientists, (b) army personnel and (c) others; and if she will list the job categories of those in (c) above. [121013]

Mr. Hoon [holding answer 23 June 2003]: The Iraq Survey Group will have a changing membership based on the task at hand. The ISG will be around 1,400 strong and will be able to draw upon expertise and personnel as required. Its members would be Service personnel and subject-matter technical experts.

30 Jun 2003 : Column 41W

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the circumstances in which British Service personnel will be withdrawn from Iraq. [122447]

Mr. Hoon: We have committed ourselves to the long-term humanitarian, political and economic welfare of the Iraqi people. We will help them to restore effective representative government for all their people, to regain economic stability, and to reintegrate into the international community. Our Military Campaign Objectives contain a commitment to the withdrawal of British military forces from Iraq as soon as is practicable.

Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what weapons British forces allow Iraqis to keep for self-defence. [122645]

Mr. Ingram: Iraqi citizens are prohibited from possessing automatic weapons or from carrying weapons in public. In their homes, Iraqi citizens may keep non-automatic rifles, shotguns and pistols.

Mr. MacDougall: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his latest estimate is of the number of deaths resulting from the recent war in Iraq. [117878]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 9 June 2003]: In the period to 1 May, 33 UK service personnel had lost their lives. As of 25 June a further 10 personnel had died.

Fatalities suffered by other members of the coalition is a matter for them to comment on.

We make every effort to minimise any impact on the Iraqi civilian population of the coalition's military action. We have no means of ascertaining the numbers of Iraqi civilians, or other categories, who were killed during the conflict.

30 Jun 2003 : Column 42W

Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much money has been raised for British servicemen through the UK Gulf Forces Trust Fund. [121799]

Mr. Caplin: As at 25 June the total amount raised by the United Kingdom Forces Gulf Fund was approximately £290,000.

Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the Iraq Survey Group to report on the progress of its work; and if he will make a statement. [122131]

Mr. Ingram: I refer my hon. Friend to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's answer on 23 June 2003, Official Report, column 616W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Blaenau Gwent (Llew Smith).

Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many casualties there have been in the Iraq conflict, broken down by (a) British military personnel, (b) Iraqi civilians and (c) other categories. [118879]

Mr. Ingram: In the period to 1 May, 33 UK Service personnel had lost their lives. As of 25 June a further 10 personnel had died.

We make every effort to minimise any impact on the Iraqi civilian population of the coalition's military action. We have no means of ascertaining the numbers of Iraqi civilians, or other categories, who were killed during the conflict.

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many medical personnel are on service overseas, broken down by specialisation; in which locations; and if he will make a statement. [118798]

Mr. Caplin [holding answer 12 June 2003]: As at 23 June 2003, 650 personnel in the Defence Medical Services were deployed on operations overseas. The following table breaks this down between Regular and Reserve personnel and by specialty and location:

Regular medical personnel deployed on operations overseas

	Iraq	Bosnia	Kosovo	Afghanistan	Sierra Leone	Falkland Islands
Anaesthetics	2	1	1	0	0	0
General Surgery	1	0	1	0	0	0
General Medicine	0	1	0	0	0	0
Occupational Medicine/Public Health	2	0	0	0	0	0
General Practitioner/General Duties Medical Officer	22	3	2	1	1	2
Nurses	29	6	8	1	1	1
Physiotherapy	0	1	1	0	0	0
Environmental Health Officer	1	1	0	0	0	0
Environmental Health Technician	3	0	0	1	0	0
Pharmacist	2	0	0	0	0	0
Pharmacy Technician	1	1	0	0	0	0
Laboratory Technician	1	1	0	0	0	0
Radiography	0	1	0	0	0	0
Operating Department Practitioner	0	0	2	0	0	0
Combat Medical Technician/Medical Assistant	124	42	10	6	0	11
Health Care Assistant	0	4	6	0	0	0
Medical Support Officer	22	4	0	0	0	0
Dental Officer	2	2	0	0	0	0
Dental Support Specialist	2	2	0	0	0	1

30 Jun 2003 : Column 43W

Reserve medical personnel deployed on operations overseas

	Iraq	Bosnia	Kosovo	Afghanistan	Sierra Leone	Falkland Islands
Anaesthetics	6	0	0	0	0	0
General Surgery	3	0	0	0	0	0
General Medicine	1	0	0	0	0	0
Pathologist	1	0	0	0	0	0
Radiologist	1	0	0	0	0	0
General Practitioner	11	0	0	0	0	0
Nurses	134	0	0	0	0	0
Physiotherapy	3	0	0	0	0	0
Technical Officer	3	0	0	0	0	0
Environmental Health Technician	2	0	0	0	0	0
Pharmacist	1	0	0	0	0	0
Laboratory Technician	6	0	0	0	0	0
Radiography	3	0	0	0	0	0
Operating Department Practitioner	10	0	0	0	0	0
Combat Medical Technician/Medical Assistant	117	0	0	0	0	0
Medical Support Officer	1	0	0	0	0	0
Dental Support Specialist	5	0	0	0	0	0
Dental Hygienist	1	0	0	0	0	0

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