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Armed Forces: Defence Planning

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence (Bob Ainsworth) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. In my Written Statement to the House on 7 July, I announced plans for a defence Green Paper to be published early in 2010, as part of a process that will enable a strategic defence review early in the next Parliament. I intend to appoint a Defence Advisory Forum of independent experts to support the preparation of the Green Paper. The forum will be established for a limited period, covering the preparation and publication of the Green Paper. The Defence Advisory Forum will be affiliated to the Prime Minister’s National Security Forum and will work in concert with it. I will inform the House of the membership of the forum once this has been confirmed.