Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether it remains his policy to meet the NATO target of spending 2 per cent of gross domestic product on defence; and what recent discussions (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have had with their NATO counterparts on this issue.

The UK is one of just four NATO nations to spend 2 per cent or more of gross domestic product on Defence. On current plans, defence spending will continue to meet the 2 per cent target for the current Spending Review period. Decisions on public spending after 2015-16 will be made in the next Spending Review.

The question of Defence spending by European NATO partners is regularly discussed at NATO Defence Ministerial meetings.