Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what meetings he has held with the Chief of the General Staff to discuss reductions in level of funding to the Army.

The Ministry of Defence, as part of the integrated review and spending review, consulted widely to create the Defence proposition. In particular, the Secretary of State was in regular contact with all of the Service Chiefs and representatives from across Defence. The review was never about reducing funding to specific Services; it is about the defence of the UK being led by the threats we must deter and defeat. The generous settlement we have received will set our Armed Forces up for the next decade. However, we will still have to take hard decisions to ensure we're spending our defence budget in the most effective way.

The Defence Secretary will set out further details in due course.