Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the direct military aid his Department provided to Kurdish forces in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

To date in 2014, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has undertaken the following military assistance to units in Iraq: airstrikes, and accompanying surveillance, which have been critical to supporting the Iraqi security forces, including Kurdish Peshmerga; donated military equipment (such as rations and sleeping bags); and gifted 40 heavy machine guns and almost half a million rounds of ammunition. In addition, the UK has delivered weapons and ammunition from other coalition countries to Northern Iraq. Finally, UK personnel have been conducting training on the UK-gifted heavy machine guns near Erbil. Earlier in the year counter-improvised explosive device training was conducted by a private company, sponsored by three UK Government Departments, including the MOD.

No assistance has been given to Syrian Kurdish forces.