§ Mr. Strawasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will provide in the Official Report a table showing the value at current, and at constant prices, and the principal categories of (a) purchases by or for Her Majesty's Forces of equipment and supplies from the United States, and (b) purchases by or for the Armed Forces of the United States from the United Kingdom for each year from 1970 to date.
§ Mr. PattieThe detailed figures requested are not available. However, I have agreed in response to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings474W (Mr. Warren) on 8 December 1981—[Vol. 14, c. 356]—that my officials will discuss with their counterparts in the United States Department of Defence, when they next meet to review progress under the two-way street, whether some form of report might be prepared in future.
In recent years the balance of United States/United Kingdom defence equipment trade has been of the broad order of 2.5:1. Particularly with the increasingly helpful attitude of the present United States Administration, we are hoping to improve the balance.