HC Deb 05 December 2001 vol 376 cc358-9W
Mr. Laws

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his estimate is of the percentage share accounted for by procurement costs as a portion of the total budget of his Department for(a) each of the past 10 years and (b) the next three years; and if he will make a statement. [18821]

Dr. Moonie

I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Mr. Laws

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his estimate is of spending on defence procurement for the(a) Army, (b) Navy and (c) Air Force for each of the years from 1980–81 to 2001–02. [18809]

Dr. Moonie

Figures for Ministry of Defence spending on defence equipment for the years 1980–81 to 1990–91 are contained within the respective "Volume 2 of the Statement on the Defence Estimates". From 1991–92 they have been included in the "UK Defence Statistics". Copies are held in the Library of the House.

The data in these documents are broadly split by type—ie whether it is air, land, sea or 'other' equipment for the years where this information is available. The 'other' category refers to equipment not specific to a particular environment. This division (air, land, sea and other) does not necessarily match the particular end destination of the equipment (ie RAF, Army and Navy). For example, not all aerospace equipment is used by the RAF.

From 1999–2000, the division of equipment expenditure into air, land, sea and other is not available due to changes in the Departments accounting procedures and a move to Tri-Service based procurement.

Mr. Laws

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what are the 10 most expensive procurement projects planned by his Department for the period 2001 to 2011; and if he will make a statement. [18825]

Dr. Moonie

The Comptroller and Auditor General published his report on the Ministry of Defence Major Projects Report 2001 (MPR 2001) on 23 November. This report contains details of the top 20 projects that have passed the main investment decision based on forecast future spend and a copy is available in the Library of the House.

The 10 projects with the highest total project cost in MPR 2001 are as follows:

  • Eurofighter
  • Merlin HM Mkl Maritime Helicopter
  • Attack Helicopter
  • Nimrod Maritime Reconnaissance and Attack Mk4
  • Astute Class Submarine
  • Spearfish Heavyweight Torpedo
  • Hercules C130J
  • Conventionally Armed Stand-Off Missile
  • Tornado Mid-Life Update
  • High Velocity Missile.