Sessional Index

This annual statistical compendium from the Ministry of Defence contains a wide range of data relating to the armed forces, defence expenditure, service and civilian personnel and defence activities. Findings for the period 2003-04 include: i) defence spending was the Government's fourth highest expenditure, with a provisional outturn against the Departmental Expenditure Limits of £37.2 billion, and a total value of MoD fixed assets of £86.3 billion as of March 2003; ii) the total number of MoD personnel fell by 34 per cent between 1990 to 2004, with service personnel down by 32 per cent; iii) the proportion of serving personnel from the ethnic minorities stood at 4.9 per cent at April 2004, compared with 4.3 per cent the previous year; iv) in 2002-03, MoD net expenditure on R&D activity totalled £2.7 billion; and v) the MoD spent around £1.7 billion on conflict prevention activities worldwide during the year 2003-04.

SCOTT (copy 1): From the John Holmes collection.

With the end of the Cold War, perceptions of the role of armed forces in the international environment changed dramatically and have led to a critical re-evaluation of defence budgets, defence bureaucracies and defence roles. The Changing Face of Military Power brings together some of the most eminent scholars in the field of defence studies to assess the changing dynamics of military power. It focuses in particular on the move towards joint service cooperation as a way of minimising costs and increasing efficiency.