Iraq (Hansard, 1 April 2004)

§ Mr. Keetch
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many(a) deliberate attacks and (b) contact incidents there have been in MND(SE) in Iraq involving UK forces since 17 October 2003; and if he will make a statement. [164910]

§ Mr. Ingram
Between 17 October 2003 and 28 March 2004 there have been some 67 recorded attacks where firearms or explosives have been used against the United Kingdom Forces in MND(SE). These include some 18 improvised explosive devices, some 41 contact shooting incidents, and some eight other attacks involving mortars, rockets, rocket-propelled grenades or grenades.

§ Mr. Keetch
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy to record centrally Iraqi casualties reported by UK forces; and if he will make a statement. [164911]

§ Mr. Ingram
UK forces who witness an incident in which they are not directly involved provide medical assistance if necessary and endeavour to report it to the appropriate authority. However, it is not always possible to confirm whether or how many casualties have occurred during a particular incident. Consequently there is limited utility in central recording since we have no viable means of assessing the completeness of the information.

§ Mr. Keith Simpson
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what savings will be made by discontinuing the free parcel service for service personnel deployed in Iraq. [165080]

§ Mr. Ingram
I am not able to quantify precisely the savings, as they depend on force levels and the volumes of mail that families choose to despatch. However, I can say that the cost to the taxpayer of the service since its inception on 17 April 2003 has been between £1.5 million and £2 million. This is in addition to the cost to the Royal Mail Group, who generously provided their services free of charge during the initial three months. I estimate that the cost of providing this service to all personnel on operational deployments would be between £3 million and £9 million per annum. Forces Air Letters ("blueys") and their electronic equivalent, the "e-bluey" will continue to be free of charge. Other airmail items up to 2Kg in weight will be charged at a subsidised rate equivalent to the Royal Mail inland first class tariff.