§ Mr. Churchillasked the Secretary of State for Defence if pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Stretford, Official Report, 7th November, column 47, he will give his estimate of the number of the 218,000 Service, civilian and defence industry jobs to be done away with by 1979 as a result of the Government's defence cuts that will be lost in Scotland.
§ Dr. GilbertIt is not possible to say how many Service and civilian jobs will be lost in any particular part of the United Kingdom as the planned reductions have not been calculated on a regional basis. However, on 1st July 1977 there were 3,100 more Service personnel employed in Scotland than at 1st July 1974.
The number of civilian employees of the Ministry of Defence, including Property Services Agency staff on defence account, working in Scotland fell between 1st April 1974 and 1st July 1977 by about 500.
A limited number of further reductions is expected by 1st April 1979.
The method used for estimating the levels of employment in industry generated by defence expenditure does not permit any geographical breakdown of the estimates.