§ Mr. Viggersasked the Secretary of State for Defence how the proposed reduction in civilian personnel of 20,000 302W envisaged in the defence review relates to an earlier estimate that civilian Ministry of Defence staff will reduce by 60,000.
§ Mr. PattieI do not recognise the figure of 60,000 which my hon. Friend quotes as an earlier estimate of reductions. The Ministry of Defence is committed to reducing the number of United Kingdom-based staff from the strength of 248,000 at 1 April 1979 to 200,000 by 1 April 1984. By 1 June we had achieved savings of 20,000, leaving a further 28,000 still required to meet that target. Reductions in locally-engaged staff are also being made, but this is part of the process to secure all possible economy wherever we can, and is not included in the target of 20,000.
The reductions of 15,000–20,000 resulting from the review of the defence programme will make a major 303W contribution to the reduction of MOD United Kingdom-based civilian numbers, and, when taken together with other measures outlined in the White Paper, will in due course bring those numbers significantly below 200,000.