The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
870.
In 2006, the
requirement to produce a combined total for the three groups
of
civilians
lapsed, resulting in large gaps in the record for the later period.
Figures for 2006
onwards
were compiled for the Inquiry by the MOD from units’ individual
returns.
871.
Mr Jon
Thompson, the MOD PUS from 2012 to 2016, told the
Inquiry:
“… I do not
see any prospect of our being able to provide you with
figures
which we
can guarantee to be comprehensive. I am at least assured
that
systems now
in place would enable us to provide the current data for
Afghanistan
872.
The
information provided by DFID was compiled from a number of
sources,
including
duty of care sheets, contractors’ records and medical
spreadsheets.563
873.
Mr Mark
Lowcock, the DFID Permanent Secretary since 2011, explained
that
“achieving
100 per cent accuracy in this data would require a disproportionate
amount
of staff
time (if it was possible at all)”, but expressed confidence that
“the trends present
in the data
are reliable”.564
874.
The Inquiry
has produced a set of graphs and tables, drawing mostly on the
data
submitted
by the FCO, the MOD and DFID, that gives a broad indication of
overall
numbers and
trends.
875.
Because of the
limitations of the source material and the variety of sources
used,
the numbers
quoted are approximate and, in some cases, are inconsistent with
each
other and
cannot be reconciled.
876.
Unless stated
otherwise, all statistics in this Section exclude UK police
officers
deployed to
Iraq in support of the SSR programme. The deployment of police
officers
is addressed
in more detail in Section 12.1.
877.
Figure 1 shows
FCO,565
MOD566
and
DFID567
civilian
deployments to Iraq between
March 2003
and June 2009.
878.
The underlying
data, reproduced in Table 7 at the end of this Section, show
that
between
March 2003 and June 2009:
•
The MOD
deployed an average568
of 320
civilians to Iraq in support of Op TELIC
at any one
time.
562
Letter
Thompson to Aldred, 8 July 2013, [untitled].
563
Email DFID
to Iraq Inquiry, 5 May 2011, ‘Iraq Inquiry – Role of Civilians in
Iraq’.
564
Letter
Lowcock to Aldred, 24 June 2013, [untitled].
565
Letter FCO
to Iraq Inquiry, 27 May 2011, ‘Iraq Inquiry – Role of Civilians in
Iraq’ attaching Table,
[untitled];
Letter Fraser to Aldred, 22 July 2013, ‘Iraq Inquiry: Deployment of
Civilian Personnel: Statistics,
Annex B –
Iraq: FCO Staff in post on the last day of each quarter, 2003‑04 to
2009‑10’.
566
Letter
Ministry of Defence to Iraq Inquiry, 31 May 2013, ‘Civilian Roles
in Iraq’.
567
Letter
Lowcock to Aldred, 24 June 2013, [untitled] attaching Table,
[untitled].
568
All
averages quoted in this Section are arithmetic means.
392