§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the division of the defence budget between each of the three Services in each year since 1960.
§ Mr. BlakerOn the basis of the annual Defence Estimates the approximate percentages of the total defence budget attributable to each of the three Services were as shown below:
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Year Royal Navy Army RAFO Other per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent. 1960–61 25 29 33 13 1961–62 25 30 32 13
Year Royal Navy Army RAFO Other per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent. 1962–63 25 30 32 13 1963–64 25 31 30 14 1964–65 26 30 28 16 1965–66 27 30 29 14 1966–67 29 29 27 15 1967–68 30 30 27 13 1968–69 31 30 27 12 1969–70 30 30 28 12 1970–71 27 31 28 14 1971–72 27 33 29 11 1972–73 26 32 27 15 1973–74 26 32 32 10 1974–75 25 34 31 10 1975–76 25 35 29 11 1976–77 26 35 28 11 1977–78 27 34 28 11 1978–79 28 35 28 9 1979–80 28 33 29 10 1980–81 28 32 29 11 1981–82 29 32 30 9
§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the total annual spending on defence in each year since 1950 at current prices; and what has been the percentage of gross national product in each year.
§ Mr. BlakerThe information requested is set out below. The defence expenditure figures do not take account of any changes in the definition of the defence budget over the period. Defence expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product is based on the standard NATO definition of defence expenditure.
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1. Defence Expenditure at Current Prices Year £ million 1950–51 *780 1951–52 1,132 1952–53 1,393 1953–54 1,358 1954–55 1,447 1955–56 1,407 1956–57 1,519 1957–58 1,440 1958–59 1,451 1959–60 1,484 1960–61 1,604 1961–62 1,684 1962–63 1,756 1963–64 1,809 1964–65 1,898 1965–66 2,050 1966–67 2,138 1967–68 2,230 1968–69 2,247 1969–70 2,216 1970–71 2,503 1971–72 2,836 1972–73 3,092 1973–74 3,484 1974–75 4,164 1975–76 5,346 1976–77 6,158 1977–78 6,788 1978–79 7,456 1979–80 9,178 1980–81 †11,375 *Estimates. †Provisioned outturn consistent with Cmnd. 8175.
2. Defence Expenditure as a Percentage of GDP at Market Prices Year Per cent. 1950 6.5 1951 7.9 1952 9.9 1953 10.0 1954 8.8 1955 8.2 1956 7.8 1957 7.1 1958 7.0 1959 6.6 1960 6.5 1961 6.3 1962 6.4 1963 6.2 1964 6.0 1965 5.9 1966 5.7 1967 5.7 1968 5.4 1969 4.9 1970 4.8 1971 4.9 1972 5.1 1973 4.8 1974 5.0 1975 4.9 1976 4.9 1977 4.8 1978 4.6 1979 4.8 1980 5.2