§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what support he will provide to the armed forces so that they do not suffer from overstretch. [8423]
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§ Mr. IngramWe remain determined to balance operational commitments. We will commit personnel to operations for no longer than is necessary to achieve the military aim. Recent operations in Macedonia demonstrated this well. We are introducing systems to monitor the amount of separated service undertaken by each individual in the armed forces which will help us to target our efforts on the most hard-pressed branches and trades. For operations overseas, a new and comprehensive package of welfare support was introduced worldwide in April 2001.