Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that all members of NATO spend at least two per cent of their gross domestic product on defence.

Government Ministers and officials regularly discuss the Defence Investment Pledge (DIP) with NATO Allies. The DIP was a key outcome of the NATO summit in Wales in 2014 at which Allies agreed to spend two per cent of GDP on Defence by 2024. Progress against this target has been made but there is more to do. Defence spending by European Allies is increasing, and all Allies have agreed to commit to putting the DIP into national plans by the end of 2017. The UK already meets the DIP target, will continue to do so for the rest of this decade, and will increase Defence spending by 0.5 per cent above inflation every year until 2021.