asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what new arrangements will now be made for the financing of the Western European Union Assembly; and if he will make a statement.

The activities of the WEU assembly are financed by contributions from member Governments of WEU according to an agreed scale. The budget is agreed annually between the Council and Assembly according to established procedures. No change to these arrangements is envisaged. At their meeting in Luxembourg on 27 to 28 April, WEU Foreign and Defence Ministers acknowledged the increasing proportion of the Assembly's budget taken up by pensions payments, which Governments have a statutory obligation to meet. They considered that, in the future, the pensions and operating elements of the budget could be examined separately.