Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will revise the eligibility criteria for the General Service Medal (1918 GSM) with Canal Zone Clasp in order to allow service personnel who served in the Canal Zone at other times besides those specified in the present criteria to receive that medal in recognition of their service.

There are no plans to extend the award of the General Service Medal with Canal Zone clasp. The Canal Zone clasp was introduced in 2003 and was awarded retrospectively for 30 days’ service between 16 October 1951 and 19 October 1954.

A challenge to the eligibility criteria was the subject of an independent review in 2013. That review recommended that there were insufficient grounds to extend the criteria, and this decision was endorsed by the Advisory Military Sub Committee.