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Afghanistan and Pakistan

My Lords, in Devon we are very proud of our long association with Her Majesty’s Forces and are deeply aware of their level of professionalism and selfless service. We are also deeply aware of the costs borne by service families. I am glad that mention has already been made of that because it brings me to my question. Every further deployment of British forces brings an increased pressure on marriage and family life and, sadly, in some cases, consequential marriage and family breakdown. Will the Minister assure the House that this increased deployment will be without an increase in back-to-back overseas tours of duty? What resources are being put in place to support service families and to ameliorate the effects of long-term overseas deployment?