asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give the quarterly totals of new issues approved by the Capital Issues Committee since March, 1956; to what extent they show an increase since the Crisis of Mid-1957; and, in view of the instructions to other financial institutions, what admonition he is giving to this Committee about future policy.

Mr. George Robertson: Since the start of the current Crisis in Mid-January, the UK's military presence in the Gulf region has been augmented by some 1,000 RN, 600 RAF and 50 Army personnel as a result of the deployment of HMS Invincible with her complement of RN and RAF Harrier aircraft, the RFA Fort Victoria, and a detachment of Tornado aircraft to Kuwait.

We are in Mid Crisis and do not know how or when this crisis will end, but Her Majesty's Government will continue to work with our European and NATO partners and, more broadly, within and through the UN.