Deployment is one element of separated service that is taken into account in monitoring of the employment of personnel in line with the respective service harmony guideline.
Levels of separated service against harmony guidelines are reported in the Department’s regular public service agreement performance reports and in its annual reports, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.
The Department plans to publish further harmony figures for financial year 2006-07 in its spring performance report in the next few weeks.
The recent average tour intervals for the Army units listed are provided in the following table.
Regiment Operational deployments Tour interval (months) Date Average (months) 1st Battalion the Royal Welsh Unit Deployed to: Northern Ireland (June 2001 to November 2001) 29 December 2001 to April 2004 18 Iraq (May 2004 to October 2004) 10 November 2004 to August 2005 Northern Ireland (September 2005 to January 2006) Theatre Reserve Battalion (May 2007 to May 2008) 15 February 2006 to April 2007 1st Battalion the Scots Guards Unit Deployed to: Northern Ireland (May 2001 to November 2001) Iraq (February 2003 to June 2003) 14 December 2001 to January 2003 18 Iraq (November 2004 to April 2005) 16 July 2003 to October 2004 25 To date May 2005 to August 2007 19th Regiment Royal Artillery Unit Deployed to: Iraq (May 2005 to November 2005) Afghanistan (May 2007 to October 2007) 17 December 2005 to April 2007 17 39th Regiment Royal Artillery Unit Deployed to: Northern Ireland (November 2002 to May 2003) Cyprus (October 2006 to April 2007) 40 June 2003 to September 2006 40 Now deploying as subunits in support of operations 5th Regiment Royal Artillery Deployed as subunits in support of operations to Operation Telic, Operation Herrick and Northern Ireland n/a n/a n/a
As tour intervals are calculated by units rather than subunits, we are unable to calculate tour intervals for 5th Regiment Royal Artillery.