HC Deb 14 December 1994 vol 251 cc665-6W
Mr. David Clark

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will provide figures for defence expenditure from 1978–79 to 1997–98 using the basis used for the calculation in the "Financial Statement and Budget Report" 1995–96.

Mr. Soames

The information requested is as follows:

£ million
1978–79 21,760
1979–80 23,092
1980–81 23,755
1981–82 24,224
1982–83 25,834
1983–84 26,549
1984–85 28,040
1985–86 27,822
1986–87 27,224
1987–88 26,567
1988–89 25,295
1989–90 25,559
1990–91 25,292
1991–92 26,188
1992–93 23,611
1993–94 22,757
1994–95 22,071
1995–96 20,627
1996–97 20,310
1997–98 20,219

(1) All figures are in £ million and are converted to constant 1993–94 prices using the GDP deflators published in the Financial Statement and Budget Report 1995–96. Outturn information is given from 1978–79 to 1993–94. The 1994–295 total is the estimated outturn and figures for 1995–96 to 1997–98 are the latest plans published in the FSBR 1995–96.

(2) Figures are adjusted for technical changes in the treatment of Armed Forces and civilian pensions described in the 1992 Autumn Statement Cm 2096, and other classification changes.

(3) Figures before 1992–93 include expenditure relating to the security and intelligence services. Comparisons with later years' figures cannot be made on a fully consistent basis.

(4) Totals include expenditure on the Falklands and Gulf conflicts but exclude Gulf burden—sharing contributions received in 1990–91 and 1991–92.