(2) what the peace establishment was of the 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment before deployment to Afghanistan; what the strength was of the Battalion; how many reinforcements to the Battalion were received from (a) the regular Army, (b) the Territorial Army and (c) the regular Army Reserves; how many of all ranks were (i) left behind on recruitment duties, (ii) physically unfit to deploy and (iii) left behind in barracks to form a rear party; and what the Battalions Battle casualty replacement policy is.
[holding answer 10 December 2007]: Prior to their recent deployment to Afghanistan, the peace time establishment of the 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment was 600; the Battalion’s strength was 500; it received additional reinforcements of 200 Regular Army, fewer than 100 Territorial Army personnel and none from the Regular Army Reserves. Fewer than 100 soldiers remained in the United Kingdom on recruitment duties or were physically unfit to deploy. The rear party is made up of approximately 200 personnel, including a number of appropriately trained theatre reserve soldiers who can be deployed immediately if required.
The policy on battle casualty replacement is to use rear party deployable personnel. Should this not suffice to rectify a deficiency in a specific skill, replacements would be requested from other units in theatre.
As disclosure of exact numbers would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness and security of our armed forces. I have rounded all numbers to the nearest 100.
The force package for each operational tour is announced once it has been finalised. I cannot comment at this stage on the timing of the battalion’s next operational tour.