The Government is confident it has done all it can to prevent a repeat of the death of a Sussex trainee soldier at Deepcut barracks, according to forces minister Adam Ingram.

Recruits Sean Benton, 20, from Hastings, James Collinson, 17, from Perth, Scotland, Geoff Gray, 17, from Seaham, County Durham and Cheryl James, 18, from Llangollen, north Wales, died from bullet wounds at the Surrey training base in separate incidents between 1995 and 2002.

Inquests into the deaths recorded a verdict of suicide in Private Benton's case and open verdicts for the other three.

Mr Ingram said trainee supervision at the barracks had improved and there had been 'real progress' managing the risk of self-harm and suicide.

There were also tighter controls on access to firearms and new measures were in place to combat bullying and unofficial punishments at the barracks.

Procedures for making and dealing with claims of bullying had been revised and recruits would only carry out routine armed guarding duties in the second phase of training.

But he acknowledged there was room for improvement in the support the Ministry of Defence offered to bereaved families.

Mr Ingram's written statement comes a year after Sir Nicholas Blake's Deepcut Review into the circumstances surrounding the deaths.