TNAG-0253-FCO40-289-Strength-of-Hong-Kong-garrison-1970 — Page 64

programme to see where economies could be made. The costing of the defence programme which the Government had inherited considerably exceeded the provisional allocations for defence in the plans for public expenditure for the years up to 1973-74, published by the previous Administra- tion in December 1969 in Cmnd. 4234. Major cuts in the programme would have been necessary in order to meet the targets set provisionally in that White Paper.

38. The table below shows the targets which have been set for the Defence Budget, in relation to the Cmnd. 4234 figures and the costing of the previous Administration's defence programme:

DEFENCE BUDGET

£m. (a)

Serial

1971-72

1972-73

1973-74

1974-75

(1) Cmnd. 4234

2,327

2,230 (b) 2,230 (c)

(2) Costing of previous Administration's

programme

2,355

2,305

2,359

2,432

(3) Defence Budget Targets

2,327

2,270

2,290

2,300

(4) Savings on previous Administration's programme ((2) minus (3)) ..

28

35

69

132

Notes:

(a) All figures are adjusted to 1970 Survey Prices.

(b) Allocations on a provisional basis.

(c) Allocation for 1972-73 simply carried forward.

39. The Defence Budget targets at serial (3) in the table are consistent with the estimated cost of the revised programme. The table shows that defence expenditure will not be held down to the provisional allocations made by the previous Administration in Cmnd. 4234; and also that the targets which have now been set for the next four years will involve substantial savings on previous plans, thus making a major contribution to the Government's public expenditure objectives.

40. These savings will reflect partly the results of the normal annual scrutiny of the long-term costing of the defence programme and partly the determination of the Government to make economies wherever possible within the priorities of its defence policy. There will be adverse consequences for the Services which the Government would have preferred to avoid. No major projects now on order will be cancelled; but a number of projects of lesser priority, mainly in the building and equipment fields, will be cut or deferred. The Government is satisfied that these reductions, within the framework of the revised defence programme as a whole, will not affect its ability to meet its planned commitments.

CONCLUSION

41. There is much work still to be done to put into effect the decisions which have been taken. There are also parts of the defence programme which and the streamlining of headquarters and the improve- ment of management techniques will be carried forward in the light of the

are still being examined;

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