§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of(a) the Royal Air Force's 159W annual budget is allocated to its Harrier GR7 and (b) the Royal Navy's budget is allocated to its Harrier FA2; and if he will make a statement. [134248]
§ Mr. SpellarOn 1 April, following the re-organisation of Royal Air Force Strike Command (STC), budgetary responsibility for both the RAF Harrier GR7 and the Navy Sea Harrier FA2 transferred to Joint Force Harrier (JFH) under the command of No. 3 Group at STC. The Group's resource budget for the operation of the Joint Harrier fleet for financial year 2000–01 is approximately £330 million, which equates to 8.2 per cent. of the RAF Strike Command budget. While this includes the majority of costs relating to the Harrier FA2, some minor support costs are continuing to be borne by the Royal Navy pending the collocation of the Joint Force Harrier fleet in the summer of 2003.
In addition, further costs relating to the Harrier fleet are accounted for elsewhere in the Department—for example, RAF Personnel and Training Command and the Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO), who are, respectively, responsible for the production of trained manpower and equipment support.