THE Government will today finally respond to a highly-critical report into a series of deaths at the Deepcut Army camp.

But the delay in making the statement has been attacked by the father of a North-East soldier who died at the barracks.

Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram will make a statement to Parliament after the planned response to the Surrey Police report was postponed earlier this month.

The Ministry of Defence refused to discuss what he was expected to say or if he would agree to calls for an independent public inquiry.

Geoff Gray, whose 17-year-old son, also called Geoff, died at the Surrey barracks in 2001, criticised Mr Ingram, claiming a meeting arranged with him this morning had come too late.

Mr Gray, originally from Seaham, County Durham, said: ''I don't see how what I am going to say to him will make any difference if he is making his statement just a few hours later.

''I have been asking for this meeting for more than a year and I am not so much disappointed as angry that we are not allowed to put our case forward.''

He expressed doubt that the minister would agree to the public inquiry he has been campaigning for.

''If he says no to a public inquiry, we will have no choice but to take him to a judicial review. All that is in place and we are ready to go,'' Mr Gray said.

Surrey Police published its report in March following a 15-month investigation into the deaths of Privates Sean Benton, 20, Cheryl James, 18, Geoff Gray and James Collinson, 17, between 1995 and 2002.

All four died from gunshot wounds but the families have refused to accept official explanations that they killed themselves.

The Surrey report, the sixth prompted by the deaths, uncovered repeated examples of bullying and failure to learn the lessons of the past at Deepcut.

It called on the Government to launch a broader inquiry into bullying and the care of young soldiers across the Army as a whole.

Mr Ingram postponed a planned response during a debate on armed forces personnel on May 13 because of the row over allegations of abuse by British soldiers in Iraq.