To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they provide for the families of military personnel serving overseas in order to reduce the incidence of stress-related illness, including those personnel for whom the United Kingdom is not their home country. [HL5211]

The MoD seeks to provide families accompanying service personnel overseas with services comparable to those that they would receive from the state in England. Every unit has an officer responsible for the welfare of families, and each of the services has its own professional and confidential welfare support service for service men and women and their families.

Additional welfare support is provided to families when service personnel are deployed on operations. It is recognised that families overseas are often unable to draw on the support of their wider family, especially the families of foreign and Commonwealth personnel for whom additional help is available.

Chaplaincy support is offered to all family members of service personnel and those dealing with casualties. This support is confidential and outside of the chain of command. Chaplains provide support to all regardless of faith.