Written question asked by Tim Loughton (Conservative) on Thursday, 24 November 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 29 November 2005. It was answered by Lord Touhig (Labour) on Friday, 2 December 2005 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Iraq

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many servicemen have received treatment for mental health problems since serving in Iraq during the current conflict; and where they have been treated.

Answer: [holding answer 29 November 2005]: Currently available statistics show that between January 2003 and September 2005, 1,333 UK service personnel who deployed on operation Telic subsequently received treatment for mental health conditions. This represents around 1.5 per cent. of total UK service personnel deployed to the region during the same period. Out-patient treatment takes place at 13 MOD Departments of community mental health (DCMH) located throughout the UK and three satellite centres in Cyprus, Germany and Gibraltar. In-patient treatment, when required, has been provided by The Priory Group since April 2004.Due to data capture problems, we have been unable to include figures from DCMH Cyprus for the period June to September 2005. This will be rectified in future, but the numbers will be very small and should not significantly affect the total.

Secondary information