asked the Secretary of State for Defence what information is available to him about the rate of growth of Soviet defence expenditure in the past decade; and what was the rate of growth in North Atlantic Treaty Organisation expenditure over the same period.

It is estimated that Soviet defence expenditure has grown at an annual rate of about 2 per cent. in real terms since the mid-1970s. Details are in the essay at annex A to the "Statement on the Defence Estimates 1984" (Cmnd. 9227–1). The equivalent figure for NATO is about 3 per cent. As the essay makes clear, comparisons in this area are difficult and relative financial growth rate statistics alone do not represent an accurate indicator of relative output or relative capability.