§ Mr. Onslowasked the Secretary of State for Defence what major projects are now included in the forward costing of the naval Vote over the next five years; and what projects have been cancelled or deferred as a result of the defence review and the further expenditure cuts announced in the Budget.
§ Mr. JuddIt is not the practice to give details of the contents of our forward costings over the next five years but the statement on the Defence Estimates 1975 referred to a number of naval projects.
On the implications of further expenditure cuts announced in the Budget, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which my hon. Friend gave to the hon. Member for Ayr (Mr. Younger) on 22nd April.—[Vol. 890, c. 251–2.]
§ Mr. Robin F. Cookasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing defence expenditure as a percentage of gross national product from 1964–65 to 1974–75. and his estimate of defence expenditure as a percentage of his estimate of gross national product for 1975–76 to 1985–86.
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§ Mr. MasonThe information up to 1973–74 based upon actual expenditure is as follows:
Year Percentage 1964–65 6.4 1965–66 6.4 1966–67 6.3 1967–68 6.2 1968–69 5.9 1969–70 5.5 1970–71 5.6 1971–72 5.6 1972–73 5.4 1973–74 5.4 For 1974–75 and 1975–76 the estimated percentages were about 5½ and 5¾ respectively. I am not prepared to forecast the percentage for individual future years on the basis of a trend rate; but as I have already stated, I expect that the percentage will decline progressively to 4½.
§ Mr. Robin F. Cookasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing defence expenditure from 1964–65 to 1974–75 at 1964 survey prices and his estimate of defence expenditure for 1975–76 to 1985–86 on the same basis.
§ Mr. MasonThis information is not available in the form requested. A broad indication of the trend may be gained from the following table, which is derived from annual provision in defence budget estimates, adjusted for estimated pay and price increases from year to year, and rounded:
£million. 1964–65 2,000 1965–66 2,040 1966–67 1,970 1967–68 1,930 1968–69 1,890 1969–70 1,800 1970–71 1,620 1971–72 1,660 1972–73 1,700 1973–74 1,790 1974–75 1,650 1975–76 1,690 The method is not sufficiently accurate to warrant the conversion of future defence review figures to the 1964 price basis. The volume of defence expenditure on goods and services at 1970 prices for the years 1964–73 is available in Table 14 of National Income and Expenditure 1963–73.