Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Craig of Radley (Crossbench). It was answered on Wednesday, 1 November 2006.

Iraq: UK and US Forces

Question: My Lords, does the Minister accept that British forces are still deployed in considerable numbers in two separate theatres at levels that cannot be sustained indefinitely without causing lasting damage to the capabilities of the services? In the light of this serious situation, what is the Government’s future strategy for our deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan to ease the present difficulties?

Answer: My Lords, the noble and gallant Lord is right to say that our forces are under considerable pressure in the operations that we are undertaking in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, data that came out yesterday on the level of morale in our Armed Forces showed that soldiers’ morale is up by 14 per cent since April of this year. My Lords, it is up by 14 per cent. It is not spin, my Lords. The level of job satisfaction in the Army today is the highest that it has ever been. Those are the data. When I have talked to members of our Armed Forces about the challenges that they are undertaking, the high level of morale that exists today has been made very clear to me. The pressures that we are under are there, but we are coping with those pressures, and the facts underline that.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 686 c249-50
Session: 2005-06
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Related items: Deposited Paper HDEP 2006/715
Thursday, 9 November 2006
Deposited papers
House of Lords; Iraq: Troop Morale
Wednesday, 8 November 2006
Written questions
House of Lords
Subjects: Armed forces Deployment Iraq Peacekeeping operations USA
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk