§ Mr. Churchillasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many jobs, uniformed, civilian and in defence industries, are estimated to be lost in each of the years 1975 to 1980 in consequence of defence cuts so far announced by the Government since it came to office.
§ Mr. William RodgersBy 1st April 1976 uniformed and civilian strengths of the Ministry of Defence are expected to have been reduced by 16,000 and 7,400 respectively. An estimate of reductions in United Kingdom Service personnel and MOD civilians to be achieved by 1st April 1977 will be included in the 1976 Statement on Defence Estimates to be published this month. It is too early to give an annual breakdown of the reductions we are aiming to achieve during the remainder of the period up to 1980.
The cuts have resulted in an estimated reduction of nearly 73,000 job opportunities in the defence industries as compared with the number that would have been required by 1979–80 to meet the previously planned equipment programme.