§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answers by the Lord McIntosh of Haringey on 3 March (WA 82), (a) what has been the total public expenditure incurred by way of contribution towards the costs of armed intervention in Iraq and the subsequent occupation; and (b) what is their current estimate of the public expenditure that will be incurred to pay the costs of securing, policing and stabilising a new government in Iraq for whatever period such estimate has been made. [HL4180]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)The Ministry of Defence identifies the costs of operations in terms of the net additional costs it has incurred. The costs which the department would have incurred had the operation not been undertaken—expenditure on wages and salaries or on conducting training exercises, for example—are deducted from the total costs of the operation.
Calculating all the costs of military action will take some time since they will include the cost of ammunition, bombs and guided weapons consumed in excess of peacetime levels and equipment destroyed and damaged. Excluding those costs, the latest estimate is that the net additional cost of operations in Iraq for 2002–03 is around £700 million—less than the £1 billion set aside at Spring Supplementary Estimates 2002–03.
Items in the £700 million estimate include costs for the procurement or modification of equipment under the heading of urgent operational requirements, increased maintenance and stock consumption, civil sea and air charter and provision of infrastructure in the theatre of operations. It is most likely that a comprehensive and robust figure for 2002–03 will he available only when the National Audit Office has approved the departmental resource accounts.
It is too early to estimate the costs (including those that might arise from my department's involvement in work towards stabilising a new government in Iraq) likely to arise in 2003–04. Once these are known, additional funding will be sought in the normal way through Supplementary Estimates.
§ Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bayasked Her Majesty's Government:
How much of the £3 billion set aside in the Budget on 9 April in a special reserve available to the Ministry of Defence for the conflict in Iraq has now been spent. [HL4318]
§ Lord BachThe Ministry of Defence identifies the costs of operations in terms of the net additional costs it has incurred. The costs which the department would have incurred had the operation not been undertaken—expenditure on wages and salaries or on156WA conducting training exercises, for example—are deducted from the total costs of operation.
Calculating all the costs of military action will take some time since they will include the cost of ammunition, bombs and guided weapons consumed in excess of peacetime levels and equipment destroyed and damaged. Excluding those costs, the latest estimate is that the net additional cost of operations in Iraq for 2002–03 is around £700 million. This is less than the £1 billion set aside at Spring Supplementary Estimates 2002–03, which is the only funding that has been voted by Parliament so far for operations in Iraq.
Items in the £700 million estimate include costs for the procurement or modification of equipment under the heading of urgent operational requirements, increased maintenance and stock consumption, civil sea and air charter and provision of infrastructure in the theatre of operations. It is most likely that a comprehensive and robust figure for 2002–03 will be available only when the National Audit Office has approved the departmental resource accounts.
It is too early to estimate the costs likely to arise in 2003–04. Once these are known, additional funding will be sought in the normal way through Supplementary Estimates.