§ Mr. Arnoldasked the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of expenditure on the procurement programme has been devoted to research and development in each of the last five years; what information he has as to the comparable figures for each member state in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation; if he will seek to express those figures on a basis consistent with the United Kingdom figures; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Ian StewartThe proportion of defence procurement expenditure devoted to research and development in each of the last five years was as follows:
562W
per cent. 1978–79 31 1979–80 33
per cent. 1980–81 31 1981–82 28 1982–83* 26 * The figure for 1982–83 is based on original Estimates provision. Information for other NATO countries is not available on a comparable basis. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and my hon. Friend the Minister of State referred to this subject in the recent defence debate.—[Vol. 46, c. 184–85, 392–93.] They stressed that development expenditure, which is approximately five times greater than that on research, is related to specific projects under development for the services. The bulk of this money is spent with British industry.