HC Deb 24 July 1984 vol 64 c594W
21. Mr. Critchley

asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will prepare and present to Parliament a strategy paper listing the priorities of the United Kingdom's and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's defence policy.

Mr. Heseltine

Although the defence priorities of the United Kingdom and of the North Atlantic Alliance were described in the 1984 Statement on the Defence Estimates (Cmnd. 9227), which has recently been debated in Parliament, I decided that the main emphasis of this year's statement should be on the management of defence. As I indicated in my evidence to the Defence Committee on the 22 May, I intend that next year's statement should deal in more detail with the broader issues of defence policy and priorities.