Inquests are held in the UK for soldiers killed while serving abroad

This is despite pledges to cut the time families must wait for an inquest.

Last year Oxfordshire's coroner was given extra funds to tackle a backlog, but Wiltshire has had no extra money since it started taking on new cases.

But House of Commons Leader Harriet Harman has now promised funds will be made available.

Minister for Justice Jack Straw has also offered to meet the Wiltshire coroner to discuss the situation.

BBC correspondent Angus Crawford said Wiltshire's coroner, its county council and its chief constable had all requested more funds, but none had yet been received.

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Rose Gentle's son Gordon was killed in Iraq in 2004, but as yet no inquest has been held.

Mrs Gentle, from Pollok, Glasgow, said: "I'm really fed up with the way the families have been treated.

"They've promised to put all this money in, they ought to start... doing it. I don't blame the coroner, it's really the government's fault."

Peter Brierley, of Batley, West Yorkshire, whose son Shaun died in Iraq four years ago, said it was difficult to move on while waiting for the inquest to take place.

He said: "You know your son is dead, but you don't know what happened and all of the circumstances.

"It is time this was sorted out."

'Unacceptable'

The bodies of more than 30 service personnel have been flown to Wiltshire so far.

In October the then constitutional affairs minister Ms Harman, who is now also Labour deputy leader, said the backlog of inquest cases was "unacceptable" and would be "sorted out".

The original backlog of inquests was unacceptable and with the extra resources progress has been made Ministry of Justice spokesman

The Wiltshire coroner had originally been told he would have to make a case at a meeting in the autumn.

Speaking in the Commons, Ms Harman promised that funds would be made available.

More than 220 UK service personnel have died in Iraq and Afghanistan since operations began in both countries.

'Profound regret'

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said it was regularly reviewing the progress of military inquests and Mr Straw had offered to meet the Wiltshire coroner David Masters.

It also noted that the Wiltshire coroner was transferring as many inquests as he could to other coroners.

He said: "We are also arranging a meeting between our officials and Mr Masters for later this month.

"The original backlog of inquests was unacceptable and with the extra resources we provided to the Oxfordshire coroner to reduce it, progress has been made.