§ Mr. SnapeTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has received regarding pay and allowances for British troops serving in Bosnia; whether he plans to introduce any special allowances for those troops; if he will list the comparative pay and allowances for British troops serving in(a) the United Kingdom, (b) BAOR and (c) Hong Kong; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonI have received a number of representations on this subject.
The pay and allowances paid to military personnel depend not only on their location but on their rank, job and personal circumstances, including whether they are married or not. It is our general policy that normal provisions on pay and allowances apply wherever personnel are serving. Service personnel receive the 'x' factor (currently an 11.5 per cent. addition to basic pay) throughout their career, which recognises their liability to serve, on occasions, in difficult and demanding circumstances. Provisions also include the payment of local overseas allowance (LOA) to personnel deployed outside the United Kingdom to cover, where appropriate, the additional costs associated with living in the country concerned. The troops deployed from Germany to the former Yugoslavia continue to receive a significant element of their LOA (70 per cent. for married personnel and 40 per cent. for single personnel) in recognition of their continuing financial commitments in Germany. In recognition of the conditions under which troops are serving in the former Yugoslavia, we have introduced a special welfare package which includes free two-way aerogrammes and an allowance towards the cost of telephone calls for all troops based in the region.