THE EXPENDITURE COMMITTEE
XV
previous programme. Initially there would be an increase over the existing level of spending but by 1983-84 annual expenditure would have fallen from the current rate of £440 million (1974–75) to about £400 million'. They said that in arriving at their new proposals they had assumed that development would be on a collaborative basis with our allies only to the extent that it could be plainly foreseen now (Q.152). This seems to be a somewhat cautious 'approach and we hope that there may be scope for some further savings by collaboration. In any event, the R & D estimates, by their nature, cannot be well defined over so long a period and must therefore be regarded as provisional.
31. The Ministry thought that British industry generally appreciated the need to collaborate both nationally and internationally; the alternative might well be no orders at all (Q.169). Although a substantial proportion of equip- ment procurement was not well suited for collaboration, particularly where the R & D element was low, they hoped to see a continuing increase in collaborative development. We regard this as a most important issue since effective co-operation with our allies should lead to both lower unit costs and greater standardisation of equipment. Even where the R & D content is low it may be practicable to collaborate, or to effect joint purchases, in order to secure these advantages. We note that the United Kingdom took an initia- tive at the Eurogroup Ministers' meeting in December 1974 and we hope that this will lead to positive action2. We suggest that the Ministry might consider the possibility of setting overall targets for the share of equipment to be pro- cured on a collaborative basis in NATO, and perhaps the prospects of agreement on reciprocal purchases on an offsetting basis. We also suggest that the possibility of collaboration at the basic research stage should be investigated.
MANPOWER
32. The review proposals include reductions in manpower of about 35,000 Servicemen and 29,000 civilians by 1979 compared with the actual strengths at April 19743. The Ministry explained that in general these reductions could not be directly equated to specific cuts in commitments but were rather a product of the reshaping of our commitments taking into account the need to maintain a satisfactory structure and balance between ranks, ages and skills. So far as possible the reductions would be achieved by normal wastage and, where necessary, adjustment to recruitment targets, but most of 15,000 locally entered civilians abroad included in the total reduction of 29,000 in civilian manpower would become redundant. Although the proposals should not result in significant redundancy amongst existing Service and Ministry of Defence manpower in the United Kingdom, the contraction is bound to lead to loss of job opportunities.
33. We note that the proposed reduction of 14,000 (5.6 per cent.) in the number of United Kingdom based civilians is proportionately slightly less than the reduction of Servicemen in the Navy (6.3 per cent.) or the Army (6.6 per cent.) and considerably lower than that for the RAF (18.0 per cent.). While it is true that this is balanced in an overall comparison by the
1 Evidence page 29, para. 32.
2 Evidence page 30, para. 38. 3 Evidence page 31, para. 41.
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