§ Mrs. Winifred Ewingasked the Secretary of State for Defence by what amount expenditure for 1977–78 was under-spent; and what steps he has taken to use up the under-estimate.
§ Mr. MulleyA provisional out-turn of £6,353.2 million against the cash limit for778W 1977–78 was given in Cmnd. 7295 published in July, representing an underspend of £96.8 million, or 1½ per cent. of the cash limit for that year. A final figure will not be available until the Appropriation Account is published early next year. During the course of the financial year various measures, essentially aimed at bringing forward expenditure which would otherwise have been incurred in later years, were put into effect to offset forecast underspend. These were described in the Eighth Report from the Expenditure Committee, Session 1977–78, HC 600-i.