§ Mr. Stanleyasked the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage defence expenditure has represented of total United Kingdom central Government expenditure in each of the years since 1945; and what is the estimated percentage for 1979–80.
777W
§ Mr. MulleyFigures are not available on a consistent basis for the whole of the period requested. The table below shows on an outturn basis defence share of central Government expenditure by calendar year from 1950 to 1959 and by financial year from 1960–61. The figure for 1978–79 is based on a forecast of expenditure and for 1979–80 on planned expenditure as shown in Cmnd. 7439. The figures for the period 1950 to 1959 must be regarded as approximate.
Per cent. 1950 19.6* 1951 21.2 1952 25.1 1953 25.5 1954 25.7 1955 24.9 1956 25.3 1957 22.6 1958 21.9 1959 20.9 1960–61 21.1 1961–62 20.5 1962–63 20.8 1963–64 19.8 1964–65 19.0 1965–66 18.1 1966–67 16.9 1967–68 15.3 1968–69 14.6 1969–70 13.6 1970–71 13.7 1971–72 13.5 1972–73 13.1 1973–74 13.2 1974–75 11.6 1975–76 11.5 1976–77 12.0 1977–78 12.2 1978–79† 11.9 1979–80† 11.9 * The percentages for the years 1950 to 1977–78 are based on figures for central Government expenditure consistent with those in Tables 3.6 and 3.7 of the CSO publication "Financial Statistics". † Figures for 1978–79 and 1979–80 are comparable estimates drawn from the information in Cmnd. 7439.