§ Mr. GrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many UK regular forces have been committed overseas in each month since 1 January. [69768]
§ Dr. MoonieThe table shows the average number and percentage of trained service personnel deployed on military tasks overseas in the first six months of 2002. This includes personnel deployed on operations (e.g. in Afghanistan) and ongoing commitments (e.g. in Cyprus).
Number Percentage 4th quarter 2001–021 Navy (including Marines) 5,270 14.1 Army 9,843 9.7 Air Force 4,574 9.3 1st quarter 2002–032 Navy (including Marines) 5,211 13.9 Army 9,992 9.9 Air Force 4,314 8.8 1 January-March 2002 2 April"June 2002 In addition to the above, we estimate that around 5–6 per cent. of trained service personnel are either preparing for, or recovering from, deployment on military tasks overseas.