HC Deb 04 December 2003 vol 415 cc128-9W
Mr. Hancock

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many(a) Royal Navy, (b) Royal Air Force, (c) Army and (d) civilian MoD personnel are on deployment to (i) NATO HQ in Brussels (ii) NATO Southern Command and (iii) other NATO command centres; and if he will make a statement. [141346]

Mr. Ingram

As at 1 December 2003, the number of United Kingdom Ministry of Defence armed forces and civilian personnel in NATO HQs was as follows:

Naval

service

 RAF Army Civilian Total
NATO HQ 20 15 22 16 73
Southern Region 147 99 98 0 344
Other HQs 258 529 459 1 1,247
Total 425 643 579 17 1,664

In addition, the Ministry of Defence has a small number of people on secondment to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that work within the NATO organisation.

Mr. Hancock

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many military diplomatic personnel have been deployed to the United States in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [141347]

Mr. Ingram

During the last five years since November 1998, 26 Service Attachés have been deployed to the United States. These are broken down as followsThree Defence Attachés (also the Head of the British Defence Staff, Washington) Three Naval Attaches and five Assistant Naval Attachés Three Military (Army) Attachés and three Assistant Military Attachés Three Air Attachés and three Assistant Air Attachés Three Heads of British Defence Intelligence Liaison Staff There is overlap due to some of the Attaches commencing duty prior to November 1998.