Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any recent reductions in the total number of personnel employed by (1) the Royal Navy, (2) the Army, and (3) the Royal Air Force, have been matched by a corresponding reduction in Government funding provided to that service; and if so, whether any such funding has been reallocated to another branch of the Armed Forces.

The Ministry of Defence's annual budget cycle allocates resources to the single Services and other parts of the Department on the basis of what they need to deliver defence policy, including the number of military and civilian personnel they require.

Under the Department's delegated budgetary model, budget holders have the freedom to reallocate funding to take account of changes in costs, requirements and priorities that emerge during the course of the financial year.