Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many service personnel under the age of 18 have been sent to a combat zone in each year since 2010; and if he will make a statement.

One Serviceman under the age of 18 was deployed to Afghanistan in January 2010, for a period of approximately three months. Ministry of Defence records indicate the likelihood that another Serviceman under the age of 18 was deployed to Afghanistan in early 2010, but that, in this event, he was removed from theatre immediately upon his arrival.

Due to the actions that were identified and acted upon to ensure such mistakes were not repeated, there have been no such deployments since 2011.