The soldiers' families believe their deaths were not suicides

A police investigation into the deaths of four recruits at the base between 1995 and 2002 uncovered over 100 claims of rape, racism and beatings.

Families of the dead soldiers have long campaigned for a full public inquiry.

Mr Ingram has not accepted these calls but promised a "fully independent figure" would carry out the review.

The families do not accept that the deaths were suicides.

Violence and intimidation are not the means by which the Army produces the soldiers it needs Adam Ingram

Des James, whose daughter Cheryl who was found dead at Deepcut nine years ago, said the government had been "embarrassed" into announcing the review.

The new abuse claims were disclosed in documents from the Surrey police investigation into the four deaths, which were made public on Monday.

Mr Ingram said nine of the allegations concerned rape and all but three had been, or were still being, investigated.

Police found two of the three other cases to be unsubstantiated hearsay accounts, he said.

'Vague and uncorroborated'

Investigations to date had resulted in one known conviction, and one case of multiple rape was still being investigated by Surrey police, he added.

Mr Ingram rejected claims that the papers - which had been submitted to the Commons defence committee's inquiry into how the Army treats young soldiers - were "leaked".

He also said while these were "serious issues" many of the fresh allegations were "anonymous, vague, and uncorroborated".

Mr Ingram has clearly been embarrassed by the coverage the press has given to this issue and the outpouring of public feeling it has provoked Des James

"This document does not contain evidence. It contains some allegations which have already been investigated, and other allegations, which are worthy of investigations, but have not yet been tested."

The minister denied any suggestion that the MoD was engaged in a cover-up of abuse at the base, saying the Army was determined to eradicate bullying.

"Violence and intimidation are not the means by which the Army produces the soldiers it needs," he told the Commons.

"While I am satisfied that all that can be done is being done, there is a need for this to be seen to be done," he stressed.

Mr James, from Llanymynech, near Welshpool, Powys, called the review a "knee-jerk reaction".

He said: "Mr Ingram has clearly been embarrassed by the coverage the press has given to this issue and the outpouring of public feeling it has provoked.

"Why doesn't he just get on with it and announce a public inquiry. We're going that way anyway."

He added that the review was a public inquiry by another name.

Speaking for the Conservatives, MP Gerald Howarth said continuing reports of abuse of recruits at Deepcut could only serve to undermine confidence in the Army's training regime.

Unless the Defence Ministry could convince the British people that the training regime had recaptured trust it was clear "only a public inquiry will suffice," he said.