Question to the Ministry of Defence:

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.

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.