Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's document Legal protection for our Armed Forces Personnel and veteran serving in Operations outside of the United Kingdom, how many military personnel have benefitted from the discretion on enforcement of time limits to bring a claim as described in that document; and if he will make a statement.

All claims received are considered on their individual merits and in line with the Department's legal liability. Part of this process is to take a view as to whether a claim falls outside the limitation period. Records are not kept of the number of claims in which the Courts have heard limitation cases in which the Claimant is seeking discretion in the application of the time limit relevant to their claim against the Department.

The proposed civil litigation longstop will not preclude Service personnel or civilians deployed on overseas operations from bringing claims in relation to PTSD or other conditions that manifest or are diagnosed beyond that limit, as Section 11 of the Limitation Act calculates time limits from the later of (a) the date on which the cause of action accrued or (b) the date of knowledge.