§ Mr. Warrenasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the total number of staff in the procurement executive; and how this has varied over each of the last two financial years.
§ Mr. PattieThe strength of the procurement executive at 1 February 1982 was 43,044, of whom 24,820 work in the research and development establishments. The figure excludes the Royal ordnance factories. The number of staff has varied over the past two financial years as follows:
Numbers 1 April 1979 47,803 1 April 1980 46,966 1 April 1981 44,598
§ Mr. Warrenasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the budgeted value of goods and services to be purchased by the procurement executive in the current financial year; how much of this is to be bought from foreign sources; and if he will give comparable figures for the last two financial years, stating whether they include goods and services purchased for the support of United Kingdom forces on the Continent.
§ Mr. PattieThe budgeted value of goods and services to be purchased by the procurement executive in the current financial year is £5.3 billion. It is assessed that about 10 per cent. by value of the contracts were with foreign sources. In 1980–81 the procurement executive spent £4.6 billion on the purchase of goods and services and in 1979–80 £3.8 billion. In both years contracts with60W foreign sources are assessed to account for 10 per cent. of the total expenditure. Expenditure by the procurement executive includes the purchase of goods and services for the support of United Kingdom forces on the Continent.
§ Mr. Warrenasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he has any plans to introduce multi-year procurement for Ministry of Defence contracts.
§ Mr. PattieIt has been standard Ministry of Defence practice for many years to let contracts on a multi-year rather than a year-by-year basis.