HC Deb 08 March 2004 vol 418 cc1268-9W
Mr. Gerald Howarth

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how long on average it has taken to process claims for the campaign medal for those ex-service personnel who served in the Suez Canal zone between 1951 and 1954. [156831]

Mr. Caplin

At this stage it is not possible to give a meaningful average figure. Over 34,000 claims have been received, the majority by the Army Medal Office (AMO), which has had to spend more time than is usual to acknowledge the huge number of letters which have arrived in the last four months. This has delayed the assessing of individual claims, though the backlog of letters requiring acknowledgement has now been cleared. The AMO are aiming to process between 250 and 300 cases a week, but many variables can and do impinge on this target.

Mr. Gerald Howarth

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many claims his Department has received for campaign medals for those ex-service personnel who served in the Suez Canal zone between 1951 and 1954 from(a) former Naval personnel, (b) former Army personnel and (c) former RAF personnel. [156833]

Mr. Capin

The Ministry of Defence has received the following application from veterans and their families up to week ending 20 February 2004.

Service Number of applications
Royal Navy 1,521
Royal Marines 622
Army 25,048
Royal Air Force 7,076
Total applications 34,267

Mr. Gerald Howarth

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of his Department's personnel are processing claims for a campaign medal for those ex-service personnel who served in the Suez Canal Zone between 1951 and 1954; and when he expects this process to be complete. [156834]

Mr. Caplin

The number of people who are dealing with applications for the new campaign medal for service in the Suez Canal Zone varies to meet the demand. Some staff are occupied full-time on this task, particularly with assessing individual entitlement to the medal, while support staff are working both on the Canal Zone medals and others as part of their duties. The individual medal offices have the following staff addressing this taskRoyal Naval Medal Office: four staff assessing claims, plus one part-time clerk ordering and despatching the medals. Royal Marines Medal Office: overall one half of one person. Army Medal Office: Nine staff directly processing claims, plus three people acknowledging claims, stamping and despatching medals. Royal Air Force Medal Office: overall three personnel receiving, assessing and despatching medals.

It is not possible to say when the process will be complete as it will depend entirely on when veterans and their families apply for the medal.