§ Mr. Keith SimpsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the planned budget and total staff of the Chief of Defence Procurement after 1 April 2000. [74653]
§ Mr. Spellar[holding answer 4 March 1999]: Detailed budgetary allocations to individual budget holders in the Ministry of Defence are made only one year in advance. In broad terms, however, our plans for the Chief of Defence Procurement's area of responsibility for the financial year 2000–01 envisage expenditure in the order of £5.5 billion on equipment and some £600 million in operating costs at 1998–99 constant prices. Staff numbers for that year are expected to be around 5,000.