§ Mr. Sheldonasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the total annual 56W cost of all British commitments east of Suez, including all ships, weapons and stores required for these commitments, or that proportion attributable to them: the cost of ships, weapons and stores held in reserve or the proportion attributable; the cost of transport of men and supplies in connection with these commitments; the cost of keeping a reserve of transport for such commitments or the proportion attributable; the cost of personnel used to provide transport and reserve transport facilities or the proportion attributable; the marginal cost of recruitment of men for these commitments; the cost of overheads, including staff concerned with the planning, organisation, weapons procurement and other functions, or that proportion attributable to these commitments, all the above costs to include all personnel.
§ Mr. HealeyThe total directly attributable cost of our forces east of Suez is expected to be about £320 million in 1965–66, including about £100 million across the exchanges. These figures are based on current plans for the deployment of our forces and include all personnel costs, the direct costs of the maintenance of all buildings and of equipment—including ships and aircraft—whether carried out in the theatre or in the United Kingdom, and the capital costs incurred during the year on buildings in the theatre or on equipment intended for it.
With regard to the details asked for in the remainder of the Question, we do not purport to attribute costs to particular commitments in the way suggested. The reason for this is that a large proportion of our forces has to fulfil multi-purpose rôles and the attribution of a proportion of costs to a single role could be very misleading.