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Defence Policy

I agree absolutely with my hon. Friend about that. There is no point soldiers, sailors and airmen going out to theatre and coming across equipment that they have not met before, because that poses a risk to them and to the operations. We know from previous boards of inquiry and from some of the coroners' reports that the Ministry has been heavily criticised in this area. Part of the additional resources that my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced yesterday will go towards improving the training fleet for these vehicles, because it is essential that the guys are familiar with this kit. It is designed for their safety and protection, and it cannot undermine that, so we are putting in significantly more assets—I believe that about 30 of the new Cougar vehicles are going into the training fleet—to achieve precisely that.