§ Mr. Emeryasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the number of his officials occupied at any time in work on the payment of social benefits of any kind; and what this number represents as a percentage of the total of his officials.
§ Mr. ReynoldsThe only payments made by us to individuals which might be regarded as, in some sense, social benefits are Services pensions and overseas family allowances. There are some 360 officials employed on this work and they represent roughly a quarter of one per cent. of 89W the world-wide total of non-industrial civil servants employed by the Department.
§ Mr. Emeryasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the total expenditure on social benefits of any kind in absolute terms of money expended by his Department; and what this represents as a percentage of total expenditure of his Department.
§ Mr. ReynoldsA functional breakdown of the 1968–69 Defence Budget shows the following main components all of which are in some sense expenditure on social benefits:
£m. Percent, of Defence Budget Medical and Dental Services 39.5 1.7 Education 22.1 0.9 Housing (see note) (a) Married 53.3 2.4 (b) Single 21.5 0.9 Pensions 110.6 4.9 Meteorological Services 6.4 0.3 Welfare and Miscellaneous 4.5 0.2 257.9 11.3 Note:
The figures for Housing represent the gross cost of building, purchasing and hiring accommodation And include repayments and interest charges under the Armed Forces (Housing Leans) Acts.