Mr. O'NeillTo ask the Secretary of Defence, pursuant to his answer of 31 January,Official Report, column 729, if he will make a statement on the circumstances in which he would provide details of the contents of the long-term costings of the defence budget, as referred to in the answer of 2 May 1991, Official Report, column 292.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonAs made clear in my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Defence Procurement's answer on 2 May 1991, the long term costing is intended for internal planning purposes. Plans for defence expendiure for the period covered by the public expenditure survey are published each autumn. Further information is made available in the "Statement on Defence Estimates". Approval to commit expenditure is subject to separate procedures and information on plans for and progress of individual projects is made available as appropriate.
Mr. O'NeillTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 31 January,Official Report, 330W column 730, what information is held centrally regarding (a) higher-level budgets, (b) intermediate higher-level budgets and (c) basic-level budgets.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonInformation relating to estimated future expenditure is held centrally for higher level budgets and for those intermediate higher level budgets that report directly to top level budgets. Expenditure in the current financial year is monitored centrally for top level budgets.