§ 8. Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will give an estimate of the total number of civilian 402 dependants of the Armed Forces and civilian staff attached to the Armed Forces at present living abroad, and the approximate cost in foreign exchange to this country of their expenditure.
§ Mr. ReynoldsAbout 168,000. It is the individual Service man who finances most of his dependant's expenditure; I cannot say how much foreign exchange he would save if they were not abroad with him.
§ Mr. HooleyWould my right hon. Friend agree that it is of the utmost importance that the foreign currency expenditure of this civilian staff attached to the forces should be brought drastically under control in view of the severe strain on our foreign exchange which it represents?
§ Mr. ReynoldsI would not limit this control solely to the area about which my hon. Friend has asked the Question. A figure of £120 million is drawn by way of pay by the Service men themselves. Any estimate which I tried to make of how much of that they would not draw overseas if their families were not with them would be, at best, a poor guess.
§ Mr. PowellIs the estimate of any additional overseas expenditure under this head, other than Forces' pay, included in the estimates of overseas defence expenditure?
§ Mr. ReynoldsWe know, of course, the total amount of overseas defence expenditure in foreign countries of which such things as schools, married quarters and things of that nature form a part, but it is not possible, without a large amount of work, to separate these contingent items right down with any degree of accuracy.