Written question asked by Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party) on Monday, 28 November 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 30 November 2011. It was answered by Lord Robathan (Conservative) on Monday, 12 December 2011 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Post Codes

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department uses postcodes for purposes other than the postage of mail.

Answer: Postcodes are used in the Ministry of Defence for purposes other than the postage of mail but it is not possible to provide a definitive and detailed list of these uses, because this information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The following examples are no more than indicative.Defence Analytical Services and Advice (DASA) use postcodes as the basis for aggregating statistics on stationed location, as published in TSP 10—UK Regular Forces Stationed Location and available online at:"http://www.dasa.mod.uk/applications/newWeb/www/index.php ?page=48&thiscontent=100&pubType=0&date=2011-11-17&dis Text=01%20Oct%202011&from=historic&topDate=2011-11-17 &PublishTime=09:30:00"The postcodes are used to identify an individual's base location and to count how many people are stationed within a particular base, local authority, region, or country.Postcodes have also been used to group the responses to administration surveys into rough areas by using the first part of the postcode eg SW1A 2HB would be collated with other responses in the SW1A area, cross referenced to the post town.

Secondary information