Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral contribution of the Foreign Secretary of 16 December 2015, on Daesh: Syria/Iraq, if he will take steps to assess whether there have been civilian casualties as a result of UK airstrikes in Iraq and Syria through means other than receipt of reports.

Penny Mordaunt

We analyse the risks involved in any potential strikes in advance in order to minimise risks to civilians. Once a mission is launched, our aircrew assess and minimise risks prior to weapons being released. Every strike is subjected to careful post-mission scrutiny to confirm the aircrew’s assessment, allowing us to examine in detail any claim of civilian casualties. We would publish any report which concluded that civilian casualties had resulted from UK military action.