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Written question asked by Lord Morris of Manchester (Labour), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Astor of Hever (Conservative) on Monday, 18 October 2010.

Armed Forces: Seriously Injured Personnel

Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (a) United Kingdom servicemen, and (b) United Kingdom servicewomen, have been permanently injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Answer

The following table presents the number of UK Armed Forces personnel who have been identified as being very seriously injured or seriously injured as a result of deployment to either Op HERRICK (Afghanistan) or Op TELIC (Iraq) and who have subsequently been permanently medically downgraded.

Operation Number downgraded
All 118
Iraq¹ 49
Afghanistan² 69

"¹ From 1 January 2003 to 31 July 2009""² From 7 October 2001 to 1 August 2010" "² From 7 October 2001 to 1 August 2010" Due to very small numbers of female service personnel permanently medically downgraded, it is not possible to provide a gender breakdown in response to the Question. Although medical boards recommend medical downgrading, they do not attribute the principal disability leading to the board to either service or deployment. A medical board could take place many weeks or months after an event or injury and it is not clinically possible in some cases to link an earlier injury to a later problem which may lead to a downgrading. Decisions on attributability to service are made by the Service Personnel and Veterans' Agency.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
2272; 721 c99-100WA
Session
2010-12
Subjects
Disability Armed forces Armed conflict Injuries Iraq Peacekeeping operations Afghanistan
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk