§ Angus RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the expenditure is on training in the(a) Royal Navy and Royal Marines, (b) the Army and (c) the RAF in (i) the UK and (ii) Scotland. [32459]
§ Mr. Ingram[holding answer 1 February 2002]: The latest best estimates for the amounts spent by the Services' Training Agencies on individual training for the Royal Navy, Army and RAF in the last 12 months are respectively: £403.6 million; £894 million and £404.5 million. These figures are approximate and are in accordance with Resources Accounting and Budgeting (RAB) procedures which incorporate consumption figures not included in a cash budget.
For the Royal Navy, a small proportion of trainee days are spent in Scotland, but separate costs are not recorded for these activities by the Naval Training and Recruiting Agency. The Army Training and Recruiting Agency estimates that its total expenditure in Scotland in the current Financial Year will be £22 million. The majority of the RAF Training Group Defence Agency's training establishments are based either in England or Wales, but the in-year cost of their Outdoor Activity Centre in Scotland for the current financial year is £675,000.
The cash costs of Royal Marines individual training for financial year 2001–02 are projected to be £39.9 million. It is not possible to identify separately Royal Marines training expenditure in Scotland.
Training costs falling to the Service Commands are not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.