§ Mr. Adleyasked the Minister of State for Defence what is the number of British forces presently stationed in Hong Kong and the number of British forces presently stationed in Malaysia and Singapore; and what future level of forces he plans to maintain in Hong Kong.
§ Lord BalnielMembers of the three Services—including Gurkhas and locally enlisted forces—stationed in Hong Kong numbered at 1st April, 1970, about 9,500; and in Malaysia and Singapore at the same date about 28,000. These figures include personnel serving at sea. Regarding the latter part of the Question, it is not the practice to disclose details of future planned force levels. However, it is the intention to maintain a garrison in Hong Kong sufficient to fulfil our responsibilities there.
§ Mr. Adleyasked the Minister of State for Defence what is the annual cost of maintaining British forces at their present level in Hong Kong and the annual cost of maintaining British forces at their present level in Singapore and Malaysia.
§ Lord BalnielWe cannot give a meaningful figure of budgetary costs for94W forces in a particular area, because a given Service formation, wherever based, commonly has more than one rôle, and because arbitrary conventions would have to be used in allocating to particular theatres such major elements as the related costs of the home base. Local defence expenditure for 1970–71 on the basis given in Cmnd. 4290, Annex H, Table 1, has been estimated as follows:
Hong Kong—£11 million (allowing for a cash contribution by the Hong Kong Government).Singapore and Malaysia—£47 million.