asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the balance of reciprocal sales of defence hardware between the United Kingdom and the United States of America, giving figures for the latest year for which statistics are available.

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the member for Hastings and Rye (Mr. Warren) on 19 February 1987 at column 778. The figure for 1985–86 is 1·5: 1 which represents a further improvement in our defence sales programme in the United States.