Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make it his Department's policy that deployments by the Ranger Regiment be (a) made public and (b) subject to parliamentary scrutiny.

The Ranger Regiment is part of the newly established Army Special Operations Brigade. Its work will include deploying alongside partner forces around the world to counter Violent Extremist Organisations and hostile state threats.

The MOD is committed to being open and transparent to Parliament. However in certain circumstances operational security will prevent confirmation or otherwise of operational activity.

As with other military deployments, it is not the MOD’s intention to update the house each time the Ranger Regiment is deployed, unless there is a specific need and public interest in doing so.