§ Mr. Quentin DaviesTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the Royal Navy's budgeted fund allocation for 2000–01; and what was the corresponding budget for the previous five years. [122113]
§ Mr. SpellarThe operating costs of the Ministry of Defence are managed by 11 Top Level Budget (TLB) holders. Major equipment and research programmes are managed separately. Prior to 2000–01 there were three discrete TLBs covering the main activities of the Royal Navy, however, from 2000–01 a new tri-service TLB has been created to manage the Departments logistics activities—the Chief of Defence Logistics (CDL) TLB. This budget includes the costs of the Navy as well as the Army and RAF and it is not possible separately to identify the single service elements; the budget is managed as a whole. Equipment procurement costs are also managed centrally the Defence Procurement Agency (DPA) and are therefore also excluded.
For 2000–01 the budgets set for the two remaining Navy TLBs is £1,693 million. The total budget for the CDL TLB is £4,854 million.
161WThe Navy Budget for the previous five years was as follows:
Year £ million (actuals) 1995–96 3,879 1996–97 3,761 1997–98 3,714 1998–99 3,765 1999–2000 3,698