§ Chris RuaneTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the strength was of UK armed forces in Belize in each of the last 25 years. [175241]
§ Mr. IngramThe information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The United Kingdom garrison in Belize was withdrawn in 1994. From the early 1980s until reductions in advance of withdrawal in the early 1990s, the garrison comprised a full battalion group with an element of RAF support, numbering in total an estimated 1,200 to 1,500 military personnel. In 1994, the garrison was replaced by the much smaller British Army Training Support Unit Belize (BATSUB). BATSUB currently has around 70 permanent military staff. In addition, many hundreds of personnel pass through BATSUB for short periods of training each year.