Written question asked by Gerald Howarth (Conservative) on Tuesday, 24 February 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 8 March 2004. It was answered by Ivor Caplin (Labour) on Monday, 8 March 2004 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how long on average it has taken to process claims for the campaign medal for those ex-service personnel who served in the Suez Canal Zone between 1951 and 1954. - Inc figures.

Answer: Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how long on average it has taken to process claims for the campaign medal for those ex-service personnel who served in the Suez Canal zone between 1951 and 1954. [156831] Mr. Caplin: At this stage it is not possible to give a meaningful average figure. Over 34,000 claims have been received, the majority by the Army Medal Office (AMO), which has had to spend more time than is usual to acknowledge the huge number of letters which have arrived in the last four months. This has delayed the assessing of individual claims, though the backlog of letters requiring acknowledgement has now been cleared. The AMO are aiming to process between 250 and 300 cases a week, but many variables can and do impinge on this target.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 418 c1267W;418 c1268W; 156831
Session: 2003-04
Subjects: Applications Military decorations Suez (Egypt) General Service Medal Veterans
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk