§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his estimate is of the average annual rise in pay for individuals employed in the armed forces in each year from 1990–91 to 2000–02; what the increase in the defence budget was in each year; and if he will make a statement. [66267]
§ Mr. Ingram[holding answer 4 July 2002]Information on increase in the pay of the armed forces is not available in the form requested. However, the annual pay awards for the armed forces as recommended by the Armed Forces Pay Review Body (AFPRB), for the years716W 1990–91 to 2000–01 are outlined in the table. Overall annual increases in the defence budget for these years are also shown.
Per cent. Financial year Pay awards Increase/decrease in defence budget 1990–91 8.70 -0.85 1991–92 9.50 3.72 1992–93 5.90 -9.19 1993–94 1.50 -3.06 1994–95 3.00 -2.16 1995–96 2.30 -7.27 1996–97 3.20 0.67 1997–98 3.00 -6.18 1998–99 3.75 1.17 1999–2000 3.50 -2.00 2000–01 3.30 2.50 The figures for the pay awards reflect the AFPRB recommendations for the majority of service personnel in each year. Within these overall awards, however, some personnel have received higher increases where the review body has targeted specific ranks in a given year. The figures in the table exclude the effects of the staging of the implementation of the awards, increases in the level of X factor and increases due to adjustments to the pension abatement.
Staging of pay awards for the armed forces took place in 1990, 1994, 1996, 1997 and 1998.
The figures for the defence budget represent the cash outturn in each of the years including the additional costs of operations.