Written question asked by Lord Harper (Conservative) on Tuesday, 31 January 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 2 February 2006. It was answered by Lord Touhig (Labour) on Thursday, 9 February 2006 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Iraq

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of (a) soldiers in the Army and (b) soldiers serving in Iraq have been diagnosed with a mental health condition.

Answer: Between January 2003 and September 2005 inclusive, 1,333 United Kingdom service personnel who had served in Iraq were subsequently assessed as suffering from a mental health disorder,. This represents less than 1.5 per cent. of total UK service personnel deployed to the region during the same period. Of those 1,333 personnel, 182 were assessed as suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.Figures are not held centrally on a tri-service or single service basis on the total number of service personnel who are suffering from any mental health condition and this could therefore be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 48780; 442 c1404W;442 c1404W
Session: 2005-06
Subjects: Armed forces Iraq Mental illness Peacekeeping operations Mental health Iraq conflict Post-traumatic stress disorder
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk