§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many(a) United Kingdom troops and (b) troops from the Territorial Army are serving in Iraq. [134435]
§ Mr. IngramWe currently have around 11,000 United Kingdom service personnel serving in Iraq, of which approximately 1,800 are members of the Territorial Army.
§ Mr. JenkinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many packets have been sent to armed forces personnel stationed in the Gulf free of charge since the scheme was launched. [136398]
§ Mr. IngramIt is not possible to give the precise number of packets sent to members of Her Majesty's forces and entitled civilians on Operation Telic since the service was instituted on 17 April 2003, as numbers are calculated by sampling rather than counting of 771W individual items. However, as at Friday 31 October 2003, we calculate that some 570,000 free packets have been sent.
§ Harry CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 1 September,Official Report, column 905W, on Iraq, what the outcome was of the investigation; and if he will place a copy of the relevant communications log in the Library. [131785]
§ Mr. IngramThe Ministry of Defence is determined to do all we can to establish the facts, and to bring to account those responsible for the deaths of the six Royal Military Police soldiers killed so tragically in Iraq on 24 June. It would not be appropriate to comment while the SIB investigation is still ongoing and we cannot put a timeframe on how long the investigation might take. Once it has been completed a full report will be given to the families concerned. The next of kin are being kept informed of the investigation's progress. I will make public as many of its findings as possible, subject to operational and other security constraints.
§ Mr. RosindellTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how often he receives briefings from the Commander of British Forces in Iraq. [132132]
§ Mr. HoonI receive regular briefings on operations in Iraq, which include input from the Commander of British Forces in Iraq. These are supplemented with additional briefings where necessary.
§ Mr. KilfoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the number of deaths of(a) Iraqi civilians and (b) Iraqi military personnel (i) during the recent conflict and (ii) since the formal cessation of hostilities. [133234]
§ Mr. IngramI refer my hon. Friend to the answers given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence on 16 June 2003,Official Report, column 55W, to the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) and the answer I gave to the hon. Member for East Carmarthen and Dinefwr (Adam Price) on 14 October 2003, Official Report, column 7W.