HC Deb 21 April 1999 vol 329 cc559-60W
Mr. Hancock

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the cost to his Department in each of the last five years of evacuating British citizens from overseas trouble spots; which places were involved; and what was the cost for each. [80711]

Mr. Doug Henderson

In the last five years there have been three occasions where the military have evacuated British citizens from overseas trouble spots. The details are as follows:

May 1994—evacuation from Yemen. Central records for this operation, whose costs lay where they fell, were not kept in 1994.

June 1998—evacuation from Eritrea. The cost of the operation was estimated at around £50K.

December 1998—evacuation from Sierra Leone. The cost of the operation was estimated at around £150K.