PARENTS of young recruits who died at an Army barracks in the region are to carry out their own survey at the base to find out if bullying is still rife.

A campaign group set up after the deaths of 27 trainee soldiers at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, will ask the recruits whether they suffer abuse - and whether their complaints are properly investigated.

The Ministry of Defence has not yet given the final go-ahead to the survey, but is involved in talks about the nature of the questions and the publication of the survey's conclusions.

Lynn Farr, whose son Private Daniel Farr died at Catterick's Infantry Training Centre in 1997, said: "Our request to carry out a survey is being considered.

"They said they thought some of our questions were good, but they wanted to expand on some of the questions. We said it would be of benefit to both sides.

"They wanted to know if we would go running to the Press if we got anything out of it, but we said we would take it back to them."

Mrs Farr revealed the negotiations while giving evidence to a Commons committee set up to examine proposals for an "independent element" in investigations of bullying scandals.

She was joined by other members of the Deepcut and Beyond group, which takes its name from the scandal-hit Surrey barracks, where four young recruits died from gunshot wounds.

They included, in September 2001, Private Geoff Gray, of Seaham, County Durham, whose father - also called Geoff - gave his own evidence to the committee yesterday.

Mrs Farr said Deepcut and Beyond received an average of two telephone calls every week from trainee soldiers, describing her involvement as in the group as a "full-time job".

Within the past two weeks, she had been told of a Catterick recruit threatened by a corporal wielding a machete. However, the garrison's colonel was now investigating.

Mrs Farr said: "I don't know whether bullying has increased, but the number of people speaking about it is increasing. They used to suffered in silence but, with all the publicity, they now feel they can speak out about it and contact us."

Deepcut and Beyond has fiercely criticised the failure of the Armed Forces Bill to introduce a fully-independent system for investigating bullying complaints and suspicious deaths.

Yesterday, it won backing from Professor Brice Dickson, of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, who said an independent investigation into the Army and police worked well in the province.

Prof Dickson said: "Institutions are initially hostile but, once the system is in place, those institutions come to recognise the value of it."