Lord Belhaven and Stentonasked Her Majesty's Government:
How much money was saved in 1968 by the standing down of the Civil Defence Corps and what the cost would be of re-establishing it in 1985.
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Elton)The Civil Defence Corps was a major item of expenditure in 1968 and its standing down was one of a number of measures taken by the Government of the day to put civil defence on a care and maintenance basis. The then Government achieved by those measures a reduction in grant aided local authority civil defence expenditure of £7.3 million and in central government civil defence expenditure off £10.5 million between the years 1967–68 and 1969–70. More detailed information is not readily available.
No estimate has been made of the costs of re-establishing the Civil Defence Corps in 1985. The Government are not persuaded that such a step would be an appropriate or a cost-effective way of harnessing volunteer effort today.