Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment has he made of the safety and security of personnel in the UK Special Forces after the reported leak of details of 1,182 British soldiers through WhatsApp; and what steps is he taking in response to that data breach.

The longstanding position of successive Governments is not to comment on UK Special Forces personnel as to do so would put those personnel and operations at risk.

An investigation into this matter is ongoing and is being conducted by the Royal Military Police. Additionally, internal processes are being reviewed as to how this type of data is handled and communicated within the Department.

The individuals affected by the breach, and their families, have been issued operational and personal security advice. Personnel have also been advised to adhere to further security advice provided by the MOD Counter Threat Advisory Team, which is continually updated and easily accessible to all Service personnel regardless of location and accessibility to MOD systems.