Written question asked by Lord Astor of Hever (Conservative), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Drayson (Labour) on Tuesday, 12 July 2005.

Ministry of Defence: Expenditure

Question: What was the level of Ministry of Defence expenditure on (a) new equipment; (b) support for existing equipment; (c) research and technology; and (d) technology demonstration projects; for each of the financial years 2001–02 to 2004–05; and

Answer: We publish each year a document entitled The Ministry of Defence: The Government’s Expenditure Plans (GEP), which includes a functional breakdown of the dep artment’s past and planned resource and capital spending. The extant GEP document, published in 2004, covers the period from 1999–2000 to 2005–06. We are planning to publish this year’s update, covering the period from 2000–01 to 2007–08, before the summer recess.The breakdown in the GEP includes past and planned spending on the procurement of new equipment, logistics, and the corporate science and technology budget. Information on past and planned expenditure on technology demonstrator programmes is not held centrally, as the funding for such programmes comes from both the equipment procurement and corporate science and technology budgets. The equipment plan (EP), covering the acquisition of new equipment, looks out over a longer period than the logistics and science and technology budgets. The forecast cost of the defence equipment programme over the next 10 years is £68 billion.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 801; 673 c141WA
Session: 2005-06
Subjects: Defence equipment Expenditure Procurement Ministry of Defence Repairs and maintenance Technology Research
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk