Sir J. D. REESasked the President of the Board of Education whether 25,000 officers of the Army and Navy are now being educated at Oxford, Cambridge, and other universities and colleges at the expense of the taxpayer; of the total cost of this; and when expenditure upon it will end?
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§ Mr. FISHERThe number of ex-service officers and men who are now in receipt of grants under the scheme, administered by the Board of Education, for the higher education of ex-service students, and are now in attendance at universities and colleges, is 19,814. The total number of applications approved is 27,311, but 864 awards were not taken up; 2,488 awards have been cancelled or relinquished before completion of the course; and 4,013 have expired on completion of the course. If all the courses for which awards have been made were completed, the total estimated cost would be £8,500,000. I anticipate that all the awards will have expired before the end of the financial year 1925–1926.