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Overseas Deployments

24. Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what further facilities will be made available to British forces, deployed on operations, to keep in touch with their families. [193227]

Mr. Ingram: The vast majority of personnel on operational deployments overseas receive the existing standard Operational Welfare Package (OWP) which caters for communication with families. Where it is not practicable to offer the OWP, personnel are given a cost of living allowance which assists them to meet any additional costs of communicating with their families at home.

Territorial Army

25. Mr. Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to increase the size of the Territorial Army. [193228]

Mr. Caplin: The Government are aware and grateful for the significant commitment of the Territorial Army including their families and employers. The TA have done a first class job in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq.

We are, however, continually reviewing the long-term structure of the Territorial Army.

Aircraft Carriers

Mr. Neil Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the progress of the CVF programme to design and build two new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy. [193222]

Mr. Ingram: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave earlier today to my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Sutton (Linda Gilroy).

Armed Forces (Memorials)

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on his policy on the public funding of memorials to members of the armed forces who have been killed on active duty. [190661]

Mr. Caplin: It has been a long standing policy of successive Governments that the cost of erecting memorials and associated projects are not usually met from public funds, but from private donations or public subscription. The MOD receives many requests from individuals, ex-Servicemen's groups and charitable organisations seeking assistance with various projects. The vast majority have worthy goals and can make an equally compelling case for support. It would be divisive and open to criticism from unsuccessful applicants, if the Government were to pick and choose which projects to support.

Ballistic Missile Interceptors

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with his United
 
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States counterpart in respect of the deployment on United Kingdom territories of ballistic missile interceptors. [192956]

Mr. Hoon: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Nottingham, South (Alan Simpson) on 25 May 2004, Official Report, column 1616W.

Former Service Personnel (Employment)

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what co-operation he provides for companies seeking to employ former soldiers overseas; and which companies have been assisted since 20 March 2003. [183385]

Mr. Ingram: None.

Gulf War Syndrome

Mr. Tyler: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has examined the report of the US Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War veterans' illness to establish its relevance to the health problems of British troops who served in the 1991 hostilities; and if he will make a statement. [193053]

Mr. Caplin [holding answer 21 October 2004]: The report by the United States Research Advisory Committee has not yet been published. When it is, we will want to study its conclusions carefully. Research to date has shown that there is insufficient evidence to support the existence of a "syndrome" in relation to the ill-health suffered by Veterans of 1990–91 Gulf Conflict.

Terrorism

Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the role of the armed forces in combating international terrorism. [193224]

Mr. Hoon: The New Chapter to the Strategic Defence Review and the two Defence White Papers, "Delivering security in a changing world" and "Future capabilities", set out the significant contributions which the armed forces can make to the Government's responses to international terrorism. These include the role of stabilisation operations and Defence diplomacy in tackling the conditions which promote terrorism, as well as large-scale combat operations such as those in Afghanistan which destroyed al Qaeda's training camps and disrupted its leadership. They also include assisting other nations in building their capacity to tackle terrorism.

Iraq

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) deaths and (b) serious injuries have been suffered by service personnel in Iraq since the start of hostilities. [193225]

Mr. Hoon: To date, since the start of decisive combat operations against the former regime on 19 March 2003, 68 members of the United Kingdom Armed Forces have lost their lives whilst on operations in Iraq. 45 fatalities were the result of combat with anti-Iraqi forces and 23 were accidental or from natural causes.
 
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In the same period about 2,750 UK military personnel have been medically evacuated from Iraq. We do not hold centrally details of the causes of medical evacuations so I am unable to say how many had injuries, and how many were ill.

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what efforts the UK is making to persuade the US forces in Iraq not to impede water supplies to civilians. [191479]

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what discussions UK defence personnel had with coalition partners before the decision to cut off water supplies in the Iraqi city of Tall Ajar in September; [192090]

(2) what discussions UK defence personnel have had with coalition partners on cutting off civilian water supplies in Iraq; [192089]

(3) what discussions he has had with the US Administration on cutting off civilian water supplies in Iraq. [192087]

Mr. Ingram: We are not aware that the United States forces have taken any such action.

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects British military personnel to be withdrawn from Iraq. [192708]

Mr. Ingram: United Kingdom troops are in Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi Interim Government in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1546, which was unanimously adopted on 8 June 2004. We are committed to supporting them in developing a stable country where Iraqis themselves are able to take full responsibility for their own security. We will stay in Iraq for as long as we are invited to do so.

Mr. Robert Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many trained Arabic speakers serve in the British armed forces stationed in Iraq. [192890]

Mr. Ingram: There are 30 UK personnel deployed to Iraq as trained Arabic speakers in support of British forces, 13 of whom are military.

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he plans to deploy the Queen's Lancashire Regiment to Iraq; and if he will make a statement. [193325]

Mr. Hoon: I have no plans to deploy the Queen's Lancashire Regiment to Iraq.

Light Infantry

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the present interval between tours of overseas duty is for the light infantry. [191871]

Mr. Ingram: The Army defines tour intervals for the infantry as the time between battalion level operational deployments, and includes unaccompanied tours in Northern Ireland. Tour intervals for light infantry battalions can be found in the following table. Where no tour interval is shown, it is because the unit concerned did not have an operational tour between January 2000 and its most recent deployment.
 
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Regiment	Operational tour	Tour interval (months)	Operational tour	Time since last operational tour (months)
1st Battalion The Grenadier Guards	Northern Ireland November 2001-May 2002	28	Bosnia September 2004 to date	—
1st Battalion The Irish Guards	Iraq February-June 2003	5	Northern Ireland December 2003-March 2004	7
1st Battalion The Welsh Guards	Bosnia April-September 2002	—	—	25
1 Battalion The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment)	Bosnia October 2002-March 2003	7	Iraq November 2003- April 2004	6
1 Battalion The Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret's Own Glasgow and Ayrshire Regiment)	Iraq March-September 2004	—	—	1
1st Battalion The Kings Own Scottish Borderers	Northern Ireland September 2001-March 2002	16	Iraq July- October 2003	12
1st Battalion The Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's)	Iraq January-July 2004	—	—	3
2nd Battalion The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshires)	Bosnia November 2000-April 2001	26	Northern Ireland June- November 2003	11
2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers	Northern Ireland December 2001-June 2002	10	Northern Ireland April- August 2003	14
2nd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment	Northern Ireland June-December 2002	3	Afghanistan March-October 2003	12
1st Battalion The Kings Own Royal Border Regiment	Bosnia April-October 2000	44	Northern Ireland June 2004 to date	—
1st Battalion The Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment)	Afghanistan April 2004 -October 2004	—	—	—
1st Battalion The Queens Lancashire Regiment	Northern Ireland March -September 2001	21	Iraq July-October 2003	12
1st Battalion The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment	Northern Ireland December 2002-May 2003	—	—	17
1st Battalion The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment (29th/45th Foot)	Northern Ireland May-December 2003	—	—	10
2nd Battalion The Light Infantry	Iraq September-November 2003	10	Northern Ireland September 2004 to date	—
1st Battalion The Royal Green Jackets	Iraq September- December 2003	3	Northern Ireland March- September 2004	1
2nd Battalion The Royal Green Jackets	Kosovo August 1999- February 2000	15	Bosnia May-November 2001	35
1st Battalion The Royal Ghurkha Rifles	Sierra Leone January-June 2002	14	Bosnia October 2003-April 2004	6
2nd Battalion The Royal Ghurkha Rifles	Bosnia November 2001 -May 2002	17	Afghanistan October 2003-April 2004	6
1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment	Northern Ireland December-June 2001	19	Iraq January-June 2003	16
2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment	Northern Ireland September 2002-March 2003	8	Iraq December 2003- April 2004	6
3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment	Iraq January-June 2003	11	Northern Ireland May 2004 to date	—

Intervals have been rounded where deployment began other than at the start or end of the month

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