To ask Her Majesty's Government how many petitions the Ministry of Defence received in (a) 2007, and (b) 2008; what steps the Ministry has taken to publicise them; and whether they will place the text of the petitions received and the number of signatures in the Library of the House. [HL1743]

To ask Her Majesty's Government what procedures the Ministry of Defence has for receiving, acknowledging, dealing with and responding to petitions that it receives from members of the public. [HL1744]

Petitions are processed in the same way as other public correspondence received by the department, with a response normally being sent by officials to the originator of the petition.

Although the department records the volume of correspondence sent to Ministers, the text of petitions and the number of signatures are not centrally recorded and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.