§ Mr. Keith SimpsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much money is allocated to maintaining the Territorial Army in the current financial year; what this sum is as a percentage of the defence budget; and what the allocation will be in(a) cash and (b) as a percentage of the defence budget in the next three financial years. [8183]
§ Dr. ReidIdentifiable costs for the TA for 1997–98 are £334 million which is approximately 1.6 per cent. of the Defence Budget. This figure excludes provision for those items which are not readily separable from the rest of the Army, including the TA's share of equipment costs, fuel, ammunition and transport.
The allocation of funds to the TA for the next three years will be determined as part of the MOD's long-term costing which is the process by which the Department re-costs and adjusts its internal plans. The Department's internal plans represent projections and assumptions, which inform advice to Ministers on the affordability of particular elements of the Defence programme and it has been the policy of successive Governments not to publish detailed information arising from this. Accordingly, I am withholding the information requested in the second part of the question which constitutes internal discussion and advice, under exemption 2 of the "Code of Practice on Access to Government Information".