Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Robert Key (Conservative). It was answered on Monday, 17 October 2005 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Iraq

Question: Since the end of the cold war, Her Majesty's forces have earned a wonderful reputation for peacekeeping, in Iraq and elsewhere. Has any serious thought been given to the creation of a British gendarmerie, given the disruption to military forces of such peacekeeping and the disruption to civilian constabularies, which provide staff for much of the policing? That idea will not be new to the Secretary of State because we have debated it for 20 years.

Answer: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments. In the complexity of response to today's complex threats, the civil-military relationship—including security sector reform, policing and judicial systems—is an integral part of solving problems and we contribute to that. For example, some 100 policemen derived from Britain are in Iraq at present. They have trained some 14,000 Iraqi police and, by next year, we hope that they will have trained 25,000. Other forces bring other specialties to the table. We specialise in armed forces, but the Italians have the carabinieri, who have made a contribution similar to that of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and, before that, the Royal Ulster Constabulary. We do contribute, but we are always keen to see how that contribution can be developed.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 437 c613-4
Session: 2005-06
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons chamber
Subjects: Civilians Iraq Peacekeeping operations Armed forces Constitutions Politics and government Security
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk