Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Department for International Development's press release entitled UK aid removing Daesh explosives and helping Iraqis return home, published in January 2019, what personnel deployment is part of the extra £5 million allocated by the Government to assist with clearing Daesh explosives in Iraq.
The extra £5 million allocated by the Department for International Development in January to demining is all going to the UN Mine Action Service, who will work with contractors to clear explosive devices in Iraq. This work is humanitarian in nature, with the focus being on the removal of mines from hospitals, schools and people's homes. No military personnel are therefore deployed to this task. However, UK forces are training the Iraqi Security Forces in countering improvised explosive devices (IED) in a military context. This training increases the capabilities of the Iraqi forces to deal with the ongoing threat the country faces from Daesh IEDs.