HC Deb 11 November 1996 vol 285 cc29-31W
Mr. Key

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will estimate the(a) gross and (b) net expenditure by the United Kingdom on NATO in each of the last five years, with a breakdown between the (i) military, (ii) infrastructure and (iii) civil budget; what is the percentage contribution the United Kingdom makes to each budget; and what is the total spending by NATO under each budget for each of those years. [1678]

Mr. Soames

The United Kingdom contributes between 17.58 and 21.98 per cent. of NATO's military budget, and between 10.5394 and 12.1757 per cent. of the security investment programme—formerly known as the infrastructure programme—budget, depending on whether 14, 15 or all 16 nations are participating in any particular segment of the programme; total expenditure on each budget, and the UK's gross and net contributions for each of the last five years are shown in the table.

UK contributions to NATO budgets1
Military budget2
Overall NATO budget UK contribution
1991 341.7 67.0
1992 373.4 72.6
1993 369.4 70.9
1994 349.5 69.6
1995 250.3 52.4
SIP (Infrastructure)
£ million
Overall NATO budget UK contribution(gross) UK contribution(net)
1991 798.6 168.7 132.6
1992 787.9 154.4 115.9
1993 743.6 111.8 61.1
SIP (Infrastructure)
£million
Overall NATO budget UK contribution (gross) UK contribution(net)
1994 536.9 127.5 73.6
1995 522.6 80.9 58.9
1 The SIP and military budgets are calculated in NATO artificial currencies, known as accounting units, and paid in instalments. The exchange rates between these units and individual national currencies vary during the year. The above figures are calculated using the exchange rates in force at the time each payment was made.
2 UK receipts from the military budget are minimal (of the order of £400,000K pa).

The UK contribution to the civil budget is almost entirely funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. This budget has been maintained at zero real growth throughout the last five years with the UK contribution set at 18.82 per cent. The 1995 budget was £115 million, of which the UK's contribution was £21.6 million.