"Having seen the Afghan army being trained by the very expert British instructors, I have every confidence that they will be able to take over a security role in Afghanistan in three or four years' time. However I have doubts about the Afghan national police and hope that our own policing experts in this country may be able to contribute to bring them up to the same standard," said North Wiltshire MP James Gray this morning. "I was therefore pleased to have the opportunity of raising this in the House yesterday.

Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con): I, too, have been out to see the Afghan national army being trained in Afghanistan. My impression is that it has been doing extremely well under the brilliant professionalism of the British instructors. But does the Minister accept that the police are much more worrying and have hugely further to go? The issue is about not just how many there are but the quality of their training. Can we not get more help from the Metropolitan police or other British police forces to help with their training?

Nick Harvey: In recent years, it has certainly been true that there have been concerns about the police not being as good as the army. However, I think that that situation is being rapidly addressed and that there is a tangible improvement in the training being given to the Afghan national police. The Helmand police training centre is based strongly on western models. There is a lot of western assistance in there, and most recent reports say that the quality of police recruits has improved tangibly on what it was like a couple years ago.

In his capacity as Chairman of the All Party Group for the Armed Forces, Mr Gray also yesterday tabled an Early Day Motion on the 70^th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

That this House commemorates with pride the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain; salutes the 'The Few' for their extraordinary courage and resilience; acclaims the sacrifice made by the hundreds of pilots and gunners who were killed during the campaign; recognises our debt to those serving in the RAF today, particularly those on operations in Afghanistan; and applauds the work of the RAF Benevolent Fund who, on behalf of the British public, repay this debt of gratitude we owe to those who fought for our freedom in 1940, and all those who have served since.