asked Her Majesty's Government:

What consideration they have given to appointing a dedicated family liaison officer for members of the Armed Forces deployed to Basra.[HL7832]

Support for families of those deployed on operations is co-ordinated by the units from which those personnel have deployed, especially the unit welfare and community support staff who, in turn, can call on significant single service welfare resources including liaising with families. A particular operational location will have personnel from many different units, formations and (often) services, deployed from home locations across the UK and overseas. It would not be practical for an additional “family liaison officer” to intervene in the many different locations, with the many support staff already working to support the families.