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Armed Forces: Deployment

Volume 480: debated on Wednesday 15 October 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Armed Forces personnel were deployed on operations on the latest date for which figures are available, broken down by location of operation. (226909)

The following table shows the number of UK service personnel deployed on operations by location at 5 October 2008. The number of personnel in theatre will naturally fluctuate on a daily basis for a variety of reasons, including leave (rest and recuperation), temporary absence for training, evacuation for medical reasons, the roulement of forces and other factors.

Number of UK armed forces personnel deployed by location1

Location

Number

Total

14,950

of which:

Afghanistan2,3

8,800

Iraq2

3,900

At sea

820

Qatar

410

Cyprus

260

Oman

260

Kuwait

230

Kosovo

160

Bahrain

80

Bosnia

10

Other

20

1 Countries with 10 or more personnel are shown separately. Other countries with fewer than 10 personnel per country include Georgia, Nepal, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia.

2 Figures for Iraq and Afghanistan have been rounded to the nearest 100 for operational security reasons. Other figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. Due to rounding methods used, the total may not equal the sum of the individual locations.

3 Figures for Afghanistan are artificially high due to a current Operation Herrick Relief In Place (RIP) operation.