HC Deb 08 November 2001 vol 374 c379W
Mr. Jenkin

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department has taken to meet the capability requirement of the European Security and Defence Policy's Headline Goal. [13285]

Mr. Hoon

At last year's Capability Commitments Conference, the UK identified a pool of forces and capabilities as its contribution towards achievement of the Headline Goal. All national contributions to the Headline Goal are made on a voluntary basis. Their commitment to an individual operation would depend on priorities and other commitments at the time.

UK forces can operate across the full range of Petersberg tasks, including the most demanding. In the maximum scale operation envisaged at Helsinki—a corps level deployment of up to 60,000—the UK component could be about 12,500 strong. Maritime and air deployments of up to 18 warships and 72 combat aircraft could be made in addition.

At the forthcoming Capabilities Improvement Conference, I will present further information on UK plans aimed at addressing some of the shortfalls identified since last year's conference. The UK contribution is and will continue to be consistent with our commitments to NATO. It is high quality and focused on key enabling capabilities.

Mr. Jenkin

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the next meeting between the European Security and Defence Policy's political and military committees and their NATO counterparts will take place. [13284]

Mr. Hoon

The EU's Political and Security Committee (PSC) and NATO's North Atlantic Council (NAC) as well as the EU's and NATO's respective Military Committees meet on a regular basis and at least once per Presidency. Further meetings may be requested.

Both of the mandated meetings have already been held during the current Belgian Presidency, although a further meeting between the two Military Committees is provisionally planned for 3 December 2001. Meetings will be programmed during the forthcoming Spanish Presidency between January and June 2002; a PSC/NAC meeting is provisionally planned for 14 May 2002.