Armed Forces Personnel

Mr. Salmond
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many inquests remain to be heard in relation to members of the armed forces who lost their lives as a result of military duties in (a) Iraq and (b) Afghanistan (i) since 2003 in total, (ii) in 2004, (iii) in 2005 and (iv) in 2006; and in how many cases an inquest has not been concluded a year after death.

Ms Harman
The information requested is in the following table.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                                                                      |Iraq|Afghanistan|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Deaths in 2003                                                        |11  |0          |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Deaths in 2004                                                        |2   |0          |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Deaths in 2005                                                        |4   |0          |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Subtotal—the total number of inquests outstanding one year after death|17  |0          |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Deaths in 2006                                                        |27  |36         |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Deaths in 2007                                                        |2   |2          |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Total—inquests outstanding of deaths since 2003                       |46  |38         |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------