Very good programme and excellent to see that the high standards set by the Arrows can be admired by fellow teams.
As for Max Contingency - not only are you narrow sighted, you are very poorly informed. Try having a look at the
Defence Estimate for the last year.
You are right in one of your comments:
The Government allocates our Defence budget but the dispersal of that budget is largely done by people in uniform.
This is an extract fromt the latest estimate:
The net outturn for Total Resources is £36,286,316,000 against an Estimate of £38,041,570,000; an underspend of £1,755,254,000. The variance against the Supply Estimate results from an underspend of £1,093,592,000 against Resource DEL; an underspend of £661,662,000 in Annually Managed Expenditure (AME).
Request for Resources (RfR) 1, Provision of Defence Capability, provides for expenditure primarily to meet the MoD’s operational support and logistics services costs and the costs of providing the equipment capability required by Defence policy. Any Appropriations in Aid in excess of the Estimate
are shown at Note 5, and these will be surrendered to the Consolidated Fund.
The net outturn for RfR1 is £33,076,149,000 against an Estimate of£34,629,760,000 an underspend of £1,553,611,000. The main reason for the underspend is depreciation charges and provisions, included
in the Spring Supplementary Estimate, that did not materialise.
RfR2, Operations and Peace-Keeping, shows a net outturn of £2,196,037,000 against an Estimate of £2,381,803,000; an underspend of £185,766,000. The underspend principally relates to an over-stated request for indirect DEL in the Spring Supplementary Estimate which has not materialised at the year end. Further detail is provided in the RfR2 analysis at Note 2 to the accounts.
RfR3, War Pensions Benefits shows a net outturn of £1,014,130,000 against an Estimate of £1,030,007,000; an underspend of £15,877,000. This RfR provides for the payment of war disablement and war widows’ pensions in accordance with relevant legislation; this is all AME. The costs of administering war pensions are borne by RfR1.
A total
underspend of £1,755,254,000 !! So stuff the miniscule cost of maintaining an excellent ambassidor for the RAF and the country, look wider and ask how many 'snatch' landrovers could be replaced with the £1.75bn that we have just handed back to the Treasury from the Defence budget.
