§ Sir T. Kitsonasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the cost of keeping a Ministry of Defence civil servant or a Ministry of Defence schoolteacher in West Germany with BAOR compared with the cost of a soldier.
§ Dr. GilbertIt is difficult to draw any simple comparison between the cost of United Kingdom-based civilians and Service personnel in BAOR because of the wide range of ranks and grades involved. To take some typical examples, at 1st April 1977 the net annual cost of a married clerical officer was £9,946 and that of his single counterpart £7,630: this grade equates approximately to the Army rank of sergeant, and the net annual costs of married and single sergeants were 627W £10,344 and £8,879 respectively. The costs of married and single executive officers were respectively £12,101 and £9,892 compared with £12,784 and £13,689 for the equivalent rank of captain. The cost of an average teacher would be similar to that of an executive officer. In comparing these costs, however, it should be borne in mind that conditions of service and entitlement to allowances differ considerably between military and civilian personnel, and the elements which make up each set of totals are therefore not identical.