HC Deb 04 February 2004 vol 417 c892W
Dr. Julian Lewis

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which countries have cancelled training exercises involving HM forces in the past two years; and for what reasons. [152220]

Mr. Ingram

Of the 350 exercises listed annually in the United Kingdom Defence Exercise Programme, 69 were cancelled in 2002, and 151 in 2003. Of those exercises cancelled in the last year, some 10 per cent. were cancelled by nations other than the UK hosting exercises in their own country or sponsoring exercises elsewhere. While specific reasons for cancellation are not available in many cases, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost, many nations' exercise programmes (like the UK's) have been affected in recent years by competing operational priorities.