Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of the Army's armoured fighting vehicles is available for urgent deployment.

The Ministry of Defence's levels of readiness are based upon the Defence Strategic Direction and set out in the Defence Plan. This requires the Army to have a variety of forces at a series of graduated levels of readiness in order to be prepared for operations. There are sufficient armoured fighting vehicles available to support the deployment of these units. We do not routinely comment on specific levels of readiness for individual capabilities as to do so would compromise operational security, or would or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.