To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether it is normal practice for rigid raiders to transfer personnel between bases as part of a routine boat patrol in Iraq. (101938)

Rigid Raider Craft are used regularly as part of boat patrols in Iraq. Commanders make use of all means available to them to transfer personnel, including boats on the Shat-Al-Arab waterway.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department is contributing to the cost of treatment of service personnel who are casualties of the Iraq war and its aftermath in NHS hospitals. (106317)

Yes. It was agreed in the mid-1990s on the closure of most of the Service hospitals that the Department would pay for all Service patients treated at the NHS Trusts which host the Ministry of Defence Hospital Units (MDHUs) which were set up to train MOD medical personnel.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the disbandment of the Iraqi army on security in Iraq; and what progress has been made in re-establishing an Iraqi armed service aimed at maintaining the rule of law. (107574)

[holding answer 4 December 2006]: The Iraqi army was disbanded, in March 2003, by the Coalition Provisional Authority. No recent assessment has been made of the impact of this decision upon the security situation in Iraq. Good progress has been achieved with the training and equipping of the Iraqi Security Forces. There are now over 322,000 personnel in the Iraqi Security Forces: over 188,000 in Ministry of Interior forces (which includes police) and over 134,000 in Ministry of Defence forces (which includes Army).