Holyrood ministers were told yesterday it was for them and not Westminster to change the law to allow deaths of military personnel killed while serving abroad to be investigated in Scotland.

The Defence Secretary Des Browne said the issues needing addressed were "a matter for Scottish ministers".

As Holyrood debated a review of the system for holding fatal accident inquiries (FAIs), a letter from Mr Browne to the Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill was also sent to MSPs.

In the letter, Mr Browne pointed out that, under the current system, FAIs could not investigate deaths outside Scotland.

He also said families of servicemen and women needed to be certain deaths would be investigated, but pointed out that FAIs are only mandatory in some cases.

Mr Browne said: "Addressing these issues is, of course, a matter for Scottish ministers.

"The answer is for you to make a commitment to amend Scots law in a way that can guarantee that Scottish-based service families can be assured of mandatory inquiries into overseas operational deaths.

"If that were to happen it would be entirely appropriate to repatriate deceased service personnel to Scottish bases once the law has been changed.

"You will understand, however, that I cannot contemplate changes without your commitment to mandatory investigations."

The MoD repatriates the bodies of service personnel killed overseas to airfields in the south of England.

This means Scottish fatalities come within the scope of coroners' inquests as soon as their bodies touch down on English soil.

Under the Coroners Act of 1988, coroners can hold inquests only within their own districts, so there is no legislative basis for inquests to be held outside England. The Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths Inquiries (Scotland) Act 1976 permits the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to investigate only deaths in Scotland.

Mr Browne said that while the current system gave families of service personnel certainty that their deaths would be investigated, "it does not deliver, as far as Scottish-based service families are concerned, the convenience of investigations held close to home".