Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the added value a bilateral defence co-operation treaty with Poland will bring to existing NATO guarantees between the UK and Poland.

The UK and Poland have a strong bilateral relationship; we have approximately 150 UK troops deployed to Poland on a persistent basis as part of enhanced Forward Presence. We are both important members of NATO. The UK/Poland bilateral Defence Cooperation Treaty will provide a framework for collaboration that is complementary to our work in NATO but in no way supersedes it. We have other bilateral treaties with NATO Allies, such as France, which work in a similar manner.