Mr. O'NeillTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what commitments were affected by the temporary bar he referred to on 18 June,Official Report, column 688; what was the planned expenditure of each of these; which commitments were not affected; on what date the bar came into force and what is its current status; and what effect it has had on (a) planned expenditure for the 1990–91 299W financial year, (b) recruitment of personnel, (c) retention of personnel, (d) the study of options for change, (e) future procurement plans, and (f) the size and structure of the defence industries.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonA temporary bar on the placing of new defence contracts and entering into new commitments was introduced on 11 May 1990 and lifted on 2 July 1990. The bar was accompanied by a general ban on civilian recruitment. This ban was removed on 9 July.
The temporary bar has not altered the planned total of defence expenditure of 1990–91. Its purpose was to provide time for deciding on a number of short-term changes at the margin of the defence programme in order to remove forecast overspending on the planned budget.
Certain exceptions to the temporary bar and recruitment ban were permitted including commitments of high operational urgency, security measures and civilian recruitment in grades and geographical areas already experiencing recruiting difficulties. Armed forces recruiting was not restricted. It is estimated that the number of civilian vacancies left unfilled during the period of the general ban amounted to about 700. The number of contracts and purchases held back while the temporary bar was in force is large. Disproportionate effort would be required to provide a complete list.
"Options for Change" work continued in parallel with the temporary bar. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said on 18 June the selection of short-term measures to reduce expenditure sought to have regard to the picture emerging from "Options for Change".
In itself the temporary bar on new commitments, in force for only seven weeks, will not have had significant effects for personnel retention, future procurement plans or the size and structure of the defence industries. As regards decisions on savings to reduce expenditure in the current year an announcement has already been made—by my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Defence Procurement on 18 June—that further work on the eighth
Civilians Servicemen Number Pay £ million Numbers Pay £ million Royal aerospace establishment 4,878 66 83 2 Admiralty research establishment 2,898 41 100 2 Royal armament research and development establishment 2,365 35 208 4 Royal signals and radar establishment 1,593 24 29 1 Sea systems controllerate 3,784 64 533 10 Land systems controllerate: Proof and experimental establishments 265 4 57 1 Other land systems controllerate 1,399 24 125 2 Air systems controllerate 1,743 35 127 2 Other procurement executive 12,764 200 245 5 Total procurement executive 31,689 493 1,507 29 A breakdown of staff numbers and pay by grade or service rank is available only at disproportionate cost.