§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister of State for Defence whether he will give, for each of the calendar months in 1970, the rise or fall in the numbers of men and personnel in the Armed Forces, and the rise or fall in the costs of the defence budget for these stated months.
§ Lord BalnielThe month-by-month variations in the strength of the Armed Forces during 1970 were as follows. The figures are for United Kingdom personnel only, all ranks, both sexes.
Rise of fall compared with previous month 31st December, 1969 376,284 31st January, 1970 376,239 -45 28th February, 1970 374,159 -2,080 31st March, 1970 373,010 -1,149 30th April, 1970 371,790 -1,220 31st May, 1970 372,160 +370 30th June, 1970 371,217 -943 31st July, 1970 369,573 -1,644 31st August, 1970 368,429 -1,144 30th September, 1970 370,772 +2,343 31st October, 1970 372,517 +1,745 30th November, 1970 371,235 -1,282 Note:
Figures for 31st December, 1970, are not yet available.
It is not customary to publish monthly expenditure accounts. In any event, no useful comparison can be made of month-by-month expenditure from the defence budget, because of the uneven incidence of expenditure during the financial year.