asked the Minister of State for Defence whether he will make a statement on the proposal to increase the contributions to the cost of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation; to what extent this will increase Great Britain's contributions; and to what extent Her Majesty's Government have agreed to increase their contributions on the basis of the West German scheme involving £175 million.

If the hon. Member is referring to the European Defence Improvement programme, the United Kingdom is providing those increases in our force contribution to N.A.T.O. which were announced in the Supplementary Statement on Defence Policy 1970 (Cmnd. 4521). They are valued at £44 million over the next five years and £100 million over the following five years.