§ Lord Peartasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the increase of 3 per cent. per annum in defence expenditure to which the Minister of State for Defence referred in answer to questions on 2nd June 1981 (col. 1109) is additional to the annual increase agreed for all members of NATO in 1977; and whether they will state the percentage of GNP devoted to defence by each member of NATO.
§ The Minister of State for Defence Procurement (Viscount Trenchard)The NATO agreement, first reached in 1977, is to aim for real increases in defence spending in the region of 3 per cent. a year. Real increases so far since this government came into office and our plans for the future are consistent with this aim and not additional to it. On the second part of the Question, NATO has for some years collected information only in relation to GDP. The percentage of GDP devoted to defence by each member of NATO (except Luxembourg and Iceland) is shown in Figure 19 of Volume 1 of theStatement on the Defence Estimates 1981. (Cmnd. 8212-I.)
House adjourned at two minutes before ten o'clock.