Written question asked by Llew Smith (Labour) on Tuesday, 6 January 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 19 January 2004. It was answered by Denis MacShane (Labour) on Monday, 19 January 2004 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many British technical experts are deployed with (a) the Iraqi Survey Group and (b) the disarmament of Libya's weapons of mass destruction; and what the cost to date has been in conducting each mission. - Inc figures.

Answer: Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many British technical experts are deployed (a) with the Iraqi Survey Group and (b) for the disarmament of Libya's weapons of mass destruction; and what the cost to date has been in conducting each mission. [147026] Mr. MacShane: There are currently 55 British personnel (both civilian and military) deployed with the Iraq Survey Group. The costs to the United Kingdom of their mission are not recorded separately in a readily accessible form and cannot, therefore, be differentiated from the total cost of personnel deployed to the Gulf region as a whole. We do not have figures relating to costs incurred on support for the Iraq Survey Group by other Coalition Partners. There are no British personnel currently deployed to Libya to assist with the disarmament of Libya's weapons of mass destruction.

Secondary information