HC Deb 14 March 1977 vol 928 cc76-9W
Mr. Trotter

asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will publish for each of the last 10 years a breakdown of the major categories of expenditure on the same lines as that in paragraph 155 of Command Paper No. 6735.

Mr. Mulley

The information is as follows:

1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78
Forces Pay and Allowances:
£ million … … 461 469 477 706 748 829 884 1,090 1,292 1,452
Percentage … … 20.3 20.7 20.9 27.7 26.2 24.6 24.5 24.0 23.0 22.9
Forces Pensions:
£ million … … 111 121 124 132 147 174 185 233 299 345
Percentage … … 4.9 5.3 5.4 5.2 5.2 5.2 5.1 5.1 5.3 5.5
Civilian Pay:
£ million … … 425 440 475 522 492 544 610 779 975 1,077
Percentage … … 18.7 19.5 20.8 20.5 17.2 16.2 16.9 17.1 17.3 17.0
Equipment:
£ million … … 852 821 756 768 964 1,247 1,288 1,529 1,990 2,350
Percentage … … 37.5 36.2 33.2 30.2 33.8 37.0 35.6 33.6 35.3 37.1
Buildings and miscellaneous stores and services:
£ million … … 422 415 448 417 503 571 645 917 1,076 1,105
Percentage … … 18.6 18.3 19.7 16.4 17.6 17.0 17.9 20.2 19.1 17.5
Total … … 2,271 2,266 2,280 2,545 2,854 3,365 3,612 4,548 5,632 6,329

Mr. Trotter

asked the Secretary of State for Defence, in the analysis of local defence expenditure on page 71 of Command Paper No. 6735 what countries are included in (a) other NATO areas, and (b) the Mediterranean.

Mr. Mulley

The Mediterranean in this context covers Gibraltar, Malta and Cyprus. Most of the expenditure in "other NATO areas" occurs in Belgium, Canada, Italy, the United States, the Netherlands and Norway.

Mr. Trotter

asked the Secretary of State for Defence, in arriving at the defence budget for 1977–78, what estimates were made of the increase in percentage terms of (a) pay and (b) other costs compared with 1976 survey prices.

Mr. Mulley

As stated in Cmnd. 6735, Annex A, Table 1, pay and price additions to convert the 1977–78 defence budget from 1976 Survey prices to Estimates prices total £882 million, of which £358 million is in respect of increases in pay, allowances, etc. and £524 million is in respect of increased prices. In percentage terms the two latter figures represent additions of about 14 per cent. and about 18 per cent., respectively.