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Proceeding contribution from Lord Robathan (Conservative) in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 14 June 2011. It occurred during Debate on bill and Committee of the Whole House (HC) on Armed Forces Bill.

Armed Forces Bill

I think the hon. Lady has in her hand a parliamentary answer that I gave her on exactly this issue. Those cases occurred under the previous Government and it was a mistake in each case. Funnily enough, the young men involved wanted to go on operations. A mistake was made, out of 24,000 reservists, as we have just heard, deployed on operations Telic and Herrick. Thousands are deployed each year and I am afraid that mistakes are made. If memory serves me right without having the answer in front of me, I think that two of the individuals mentioned were within a few days of their 18th birthday, and one was found out and sent back. We try to rectify mistakes when they are made, but there are a large number of people and if they do not own up to their age, that can be a problem. We do not intend that that should happen and we will pursue the matter to make sure that it does not.

Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
529 c735 
Session
2010-12
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
Conditions of employment Armed forces Defence Annual reports Deployment Advisory services Discharges Coroners Counselling Housing Expenditure Ministerial duties Recruitment Prisoners Public bodies Procurement Military bases Statistics Standards Young people Reserve forces Social services Termination of employment Reorganisation Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding Agency Veterans
Legislation
Armed Forces Bill 2010-12
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk