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Radiation

Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if the radiation readings, reported to his Department by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt on 13 January 1981, were judged to have posed any threat to Lieutenant Colonel Halt and his team; who assessed the readings; how the radiation compared with background radiation in the area; and if he will make a statement. [2934]

Mr. Soames: There is no record of any official assessment of the radiation readings reported by Lieutenant Colonel Halt.

11 Nov 1996 : Column: 27

India

Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to meet his Indian counterpart to discuss India's concerns over signing the comprehensive test ban treaty. [2930]

Mr. Soames: None, but we routinely discuss a wide range of issues with the Indian Government.

Armoured Vehicles

Mr. Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what maintenance is currently being carried out to armoured vehicles at Ashchurch which was previously dealt with at the Army vehicle depot at Ludgershall. [2933]

Mr. Soames: This is a matter for the chief executive of the Army Base Storage and Distribution Agency. I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from K. J. W. Goad to Mr. Paul Murphy, dated 11 November 1996:

I am replying to your question to the Secretary of State for Defence, about what maintenance is currently being carried out to armoured vehicles at Ashchurch which was previously dealt with at the Army Vehicle Depot at Ludgershall, as this matters falls within my area of responsibility as Chief Executive of the Army Base Storage and Distribution Agency.

11 Nov 1996 : Column: 28

The maintenance required by armoured vehicles stored at the Base Vehicle Depot (BVD) Ashchurch is being carried out by staff, to the same exacting standards demanded by the Army's Equipment Managers, as was the case when armoured vehicles were stored at BVD Ludgershall.
I hope this fully answers your question.

Royal Squadron

Mr. Alan Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who, other than entitled members of the royal family, are passengers entitled to use the royal squadron. [3097]

Mr. Soames: In addition to the royal family, No. 32 (The Royal) Squadron aircraft may be used by Government Ministers, senior officers and officials of the MOD in fulfilment of their official duties, as well as meeting operational, exercise and flying training requirements. Visiting foreign dignitaries may also be flown, when appropriate: such additional usage adds to overall cost effectiveness.

Departmental Staff

Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) civilians and (b) service personnel are employed by his Department; and what was the total cost of employing each category. [3238]

Mr. Soames: The information requested is contained in the UK defence statistics 1996, a copy of which is in the Library of the House. The latest available estimates of costs are contained in table 1.2 and the related figures for numbers of personnel are in table 2.1.

11 Nov 1996 : Column: 27

11 Nov 1996 : Column: 27

Principal headings of the Defence budget Current prices (£ million)

		Outturn				Outturn			Estimate
	1975-76	1980-81	1985-86	1990-91	1992-93	1993-94	1994-95	1995-96	1996-97
Total expenditure	5,346	11,182	17,943	22,298	23,762	23,424	22,519	21,715	21,425
Expenditure on personnel	2,530	4,556	6,379	8,811	10,504	9,835	9,313	8,684	8,516
of the Armed Forces	1,305	2,460	3,510	4,811	5,634	6,907	6,490	6,175	6,191
of the retired Armed Forces	255	503	899	1,406	1,950	--	--	--	--
of civilian staff	970	1,593	1,970	2,594	2,920	2,928	2,823	2,509	2,325
Expenditure on equipment	1,792	4,885	8,193	8,838	8,711	9,200	8,819	9,019	8,460
Sea	440	1,513	2,499	2,955	2,891	2,589	2,441	2,203	1,999
Land	413	904	1,887	1,927	1,846	1,806	1,642	1,841	1,594
Air	752	2,059	3,296	3,197	3,152	3,245	3,184	3,357	3,444
Other	187	410	511	759	822	1,559	1,552	1,618	1,423
Other expenditure	1,024	1,741	3,371	4,649	4,547	4,389	4,387	4,012	4,449
Works, buildings and land	394	623	1,413	2,067	1,780	2,073	2,402	1,917	1,858
Miscellaneous stores and services	630	1,118	1,958	2,582	2,767	2,316	1,985	2,095	2,591
Total expenditure at 1994-95 prices	25,129	25,485	28,856	26,956	25,181	24,161	22,519	20,963	20,129

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Percentage of total expenditure

		Outturn				Outturn			Estimate
	1975-76	1980-81	1985-86	1990-91	1992-93	1993-94(8)	1994-95(9)	1995-96	1996-97
Expenditure on personnel	47.3	40.7	35.6	39.5	44.2	42.0	41.3	40.0	39.8
of the Armed Forces	24.4	22.0	19.6	21.6	23.7	29.5	28.8	28.4	28.9
of the retired Armed Forces	4.8	4.5	5.0	6.3	8.3	--	--	--	--
of civilian staff	18.1	14.2	11.0	11.6	12.3	12.5	12.5	11.6	10.9
Expenditure on equipment	33.5	43.7	45.7	39.6	36.7	39.3	39.2	41.3	39.4
Sea	8.2	13.5	13.9	13.3	12.2	11.0	10.9	10.1	9.3
Land	7.7	8.1	10.5	8.6	7.8	7.7	7.3	8.5	7.4
Air	14.1	18.4	18.4	14.3	13.3	13.9	14.1	15.5	16.1
Other	3.5	3.7	2.8	3.4	3.4	6.7	6.9	7.5	6.6
Other expenditure	19.2	15.6	18.8	20.9	19.1	18.7	19.5	18.5	20.8
Works, buildings and land	7.4	5.6	7.9	9.3	7.5	8.9	10.7	8.8	8.7
Miscellaneous stores etc.	11.8	10.0	10.9	11.6	11.6	9.8	8.8	9.6	12.1

Source:

MOD Resources and Programmes (Finance).

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11 Nov 1996 : Column: 29

Regular service and civilian personnel strength

1 April										Thousands
	1975	1980	1985	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996
Total personnel	664.3	605.0	542.9	487.0	476.3	468.9	438.9	404.0	371.8	354.0
Service	347.7	328.8	336.4	314.7	307.1	302.4	283.0	261.7	238.6	227.3
Civilian	316.7	276.2	206.5	172.3	169.1	166.5	155.9	142.3	133.2	126.7
Split by:
UK personnel	606.0	560.4	500.3	447.1	438.3	432.9	404.1	376.0	349.5	332.3
Service	338.4	320.6	326.2	305.7	298.1	293.4	274.8	254.5	233.3	222.4
Civilian	266.6	239.8	174.1	141.4	140.2	139.5	129.2	121.6	116.1	109.9
Locally entered/engaged	59.4	44.6	42.6	40.0	38.0	36.0	34.8	28.0	22.3	21.7
Service	9.3	8.2	10.2	9.0	9.1	9.0	8.2	7.2	5.2	4.8
Civilian	50.1	36.4	32.4	30.9	26.9	27.0	26.6	20.7	17.1	16.9
Royal Irish (Home Service)	--	--	--	--	--	--	6.6	5.4	5.3	5.0

Source:

DASA (Civilian and tri-service).

11 Nov 1996 : Column: 29

NATO

Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will estimate the (a) gross and (b) net expenditure by the United Kingdom on NATO in each of the last five years, with a breakdown between the (i) military, (ii) infrastructure and (iii) civil budget; what is the percentage contribution the United Kingdom makes to each budget; and what is the total spending by NATO under each budget for each of those years. [1678]

Mr. Soames: The United Kingdom contributes between 17.58 and 21.98 per cent. of NATO's military budget, and between 10.5394 and 12.1757 per cent. of the security investment programme--formerly known as the infrastructure programme--budget, depending on whether 14, 15 or all 16 nations are participating in any particular segment of the programme; total expenditure on each budget, and the UK's gross and net contributions for each of the last five years are shown in the table.

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UK contributions to NATO budgets(5)Military budget(6)

	Overall NATO budget	UK contribution
1991	341.7	67.0
1992	373.4	72.6
1993	369.4	70.9
1994	349.5	69.6
1995	250.3	52.4

SIP (Infrastructure)

			£ million
	Overall NATO budget	UK contribution (gross)	UK contribution (net)
1991	798.6	168.7	132.6
1992	787.9	154.4	115.9
1993	743.6	111.8	61.1
1994	536.9	127.5	73.6
1995	522.6	80.9	58.9

(5)The SIP and military budgets are calculated in NATO artificial currencies, known as accounting units, and paid in instalments. The exchange rates between these units and individual national currencies vary during the year. The above figures are calculated using the exchange rates in force at the time each payment was made.

(6)UK receipts from the military budget are minimal (of the order of £400,000K pa).

11 Nov 1996 : Column: 31

The UK contribution to the civil budget is almost entirely funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. This budget has been maintained at zero real growth throughout the last five years with the UK contribution set at 18.82 per cent. The 1995 budget was £115 million, of which the UK's contribution was £21.6 million.

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