§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper,
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their attention has been drawn to the statement made by General Lauris Norstad, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, to the 8th NATO Parliamentarians' Conference in Paris on November 12, 1962, that whilst the sailors, soldiers and airmen under NATO command are magnificent, nevertheless NATO forces are critically short in a number of ways and there are deficiencies of serious proportions; that NATO is still short on certain major units and many of those units it has are seriously short in com- 1102 bat and service support; that there are notable deficiencies in available supplies and that there is a general lack in furnishing the modern equipment without which NATO forces would have to fight at a grave dis-advanatge; and, if so, what steps Her Majesty's Government propose to take, in concert with their NATO partners, in order to make good these defects.]
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (LORD CARRINGTON)My Lords, Her Majesty's Government are aware of General Norstad's statement, but the passage referred to by the noble Lord needs to be considered in its context. General Norstad pointed out that the force available to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was significant, and said that what remained to be done to meet the goals of the Supreme Commanders, although in his view critical, was relatively small compared to what had already been accomplished. The contribution of Her Majesty's Government to NATO is continually under review, but we always have to balance the claims of NATO upon our defence resources with the other claims upon us in many other parts of the world.
§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, in view of the fact that the noble Lord has admitted that General Norstad said that these deficiencies were critical, is it not time that Her Majesty's Government, in conjunction with the other Powers in NATO, gave the General's words serious attention and tried to remedy these critical deficiences in our forces in Europe?
§ LORD CARRINGTONMy Lords, I think it is necessary to read the whole of General Norstad's speech to get in proper perspective what he said. Of course, the NATO Council and the Standing Committee will consider very carefully what the Supreme Commander said.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, may we take it that, when the Defence White Paper is published this year by the Minister of Defence, all these matters will have been taken into careful consideration and proper proposals made of what the Government consider proper in that White Paper, so that we can discuss it effectively then?
§ LORD CARRINGTONMy Lords, I will certainly convey to the Minister of Defence what the noble Viscount has said.