Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether decisions on the next Comprehensive Spending Review will be taken before the outcome of the next Strategic Defence and Security Review.

The Spending Review will be published on 25^th November, and work is currently underway on the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) which we expect to publish before the end of the year. These reviews will be closely aligned, recognising that economic security and national security are two sides of the same coin.

At the Summer Budget, the Government committed to increased spending on defence and security, and to meet the properly measured NATO pledge to spend 2 per cent of GDP on defence every year of this decade. The allocation of a Joint Security Fund of up to an additional £1.5 billion per year by 2020/21, available to the Armed Forces and Security and Intelligence agencies, will also be based on the conclusions of the SDSR.