§ Mr. Meadowcroftasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the scale of expenditure of Her Majesty's Government used to aid arms sales in the middle east, for each of the financial years 1982 to date.
§ Mr. Norman LamontNet expenditure attributable to the middle east (including North Africa) is as follows, covering the costs of staff specifically concerned with the support of sales of defence equipment to this region and the waiver of training costs in support of such sales:
£ million 1984–85 0.530 1985–86 *1.044 * Estimated Figures for earlier years are not readily available. The above totals exclude the costs of other staff whose activities cannot be apportioned by areas of the world and of embassy staff who cannot be apportioned to sales of defence equipment, and expenses on visits by potential customers and on activities which are financed by charges to exporters or customers. The net costs to Her Majesty's Government of supporting exports of defence equipment worldwide are more than covered by the levies that are charged to exporters in recognition of research and development expenditure funded by the Ministry of Defence.