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NATO: Military Decorations

Question for Ministry of Defence

UIN 219983, tabled on 7 January 2015

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had on allowing the UK service personnel who served in Iraq or Afghanistan to wear the respective NATO medals; and if he will make a statement.

Answered on

12 January 2015

No such discussions have been held. One of the central principles of the UK honours system is that only one form of medallic recognition is acceptable for a single period of service (no double-medalling). UK awards take precedence over those presented by multinational forces and awards have already been instituted to recognise the service of British personnel in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Therefore UK personnel are not permitted to wear the NATO awards.

Named day
Named day questions only occur in the House of Commons. The MP tabling the question specifies the date on which they should receive an answer. MPs may not table more than five named day questions on a single day.