§ Mr. Barnettasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give an estimate of the planned reduction in direct costs in Singapore and Malaysia by 1969–70 in sterling and foreign exchange, with an analysis of how the reduction is to be achieved.
§ Mr. HealeyNo. It has never been regarded as being in the national interest to reveal our future plans for deployment 71W of the forces in this sort of detail, and I do not propose to do so.
§ Mr. Luardasked the Secretary of State for Defence what are the numbers of British troops of each Service at present serving in Malaysia and Singapore, respectively; and what is their estimated cost in sterling and foreign exchange for the current year.
§ Mr. HealeyThe numbers, rounded to hundreds, are given below. Those for Malaysia include the men serving in Brunei. Gurkhas are included; the crews of the Far East Fleet are not.
Malaysia Singapore R.N … 900 2,500 Army … 19,300 9,100 R.A.F … 2,800 8,200 Totals … 23,000 19,800 It is not possible to attribute defence expenditure separately to the forces serving in Malaysia and Singapore; but the approximate estimated expenditure in 1966–67 directly attributable to the forces in the Far East (excluding Hong Kong) is £235 million. Of this, about £85 million is foreign exchange.