§ Mr. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list(a) campaigns since 1969 for which General Service medals have been issued and (b) campaigns since 1969 where requests for the issue of General Service medals were refused (i) by the Medals Committee and (ii) by his Department; and if he will give the number of casualties in each of the campaigns listed in answer to (b). [73543]
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§ Mr. SpellarSince the beginning of 1969 the General Service Medal 1962 has been issued with the following clasps:
- Northern Ireland
- Dhofar
- Lebanon
- Mine Clearance—Gulf of Suez
- Gulf
- Kuwait
- Northern Iraq and Southern Turkey
- Air Operations Iraq.
I am not aware of any campaign since 1969 which has not been recognised by either one of these clasps or one of the other campaign medals available to British Service personnel such as the South Atlantic Medal, the Gulf Medal and medals issued by the United Nations, Western European Union and NATO.
§ Mr. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many representations he has received since June 1997 about awarding a General Service Medal to those who served in the Suez Canal Zone from 8 October 1951 to 19 October 1954. [73542]
§ Mr. SpellarSince June 1997, the Ministry of Defence has received four Parliamentary Questions on the subject of a medal for service in the Suez Canal Zone between 1951 and 1954, including this one and another tabled by my hon. Friend for answer today. We have also responded to 30 Parliamentary Inquiries from MPs and 256 letters from at least 239 members of the public have been actioned. This latter correspondence includes letters addressed to The Queen, the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Defence and other Defence Ministers as well as direct approaches to officials in those branches dealing with campaign medals. In addition, I was handed a petition containing some 20,000 names in support of a medal for service in the Suez Canal Zone during the early 1950s at a meeting in March 1998, where the case for a medal was discussed in detail.
§ Mr. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people have applied for General Service Medal Africa (1902–56) in the last five years; and if service in the Suez Canal Zone counts for entitlement to that medal. [73541]
§ Mr. SpellarIn the last five years 268 requests for the Africa General Service Medal 1902–56 have been received by my Department. Of these applications, 95 were successful and medals with the appropriate clasp(s) issued.
Service in the Suez Canal Zone during the qualifying period of the Africa General Service Medal 1902–56 does not count for entitlement to that medal. The medal is not issued alone, but with the appropriate clasp, which recognises specific periods of service in areas laid down in the appropriate Command Paper. No clasp to the Africa General Service Medal 1902–56 was instituted for service north of the Sahara.