§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what assessment he has made of the benefits of the six armoured battlegroup exercises in Canada carried out between 1 April 1997 and 31 March 1998; [72779]
(2) how many personnel were deployed on the six armoured battlegroup exercises in Canada carried out between 1 April 1997 and 31 March 1998. [72780]
§ Mr. Doug HendersonDue to the deployment to Bosnia of a unit scheduled to take part in the armoured battlegroup exercises in Canada, only five armoured battlegroup exercises, involving 6,005 personnel, were carried out between 1 April 1997 and 31 March 1998. These exercises were designed to train the participating units to a level where they can be deployed operationally through participating in high intensity operations using live firing and our assessment is that this objective was achieved.