Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether troops self-isolating in Mali were replaced as Battle Casualty Replacements.

Those Service personnel who self-isolated following a positive COVID-19 test, or having been identified as a close contact, were not replaced as battle casualties.

There has been no impact on the UK's operational outputs in Mali due to the self-isolation of UK Service personnel. The UK has met its commitment to all UN taskings in service of MINUSMA (the UN peacekeeping operation in Mali) and in providing heavy lift support to Operation BARKHANE (the French-led multinational counter-terrorist operation in the Sahel).