§ Mr. Cleggasked the Secretary of State for Defence why he has decided to make Sea Cadet units pay rent for the use of Defence Department premises; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. FoleyAlthough £410,000 is provided for the Sea Cadet Corps this year in Navy Department Votes this Corps is not a pre-service organisation. Provision and maintenance of its premises therefore does not rest with the Ministry of Defence but is the concern of Unit Committees.
245WMost of the Committees occupy and pay for non-Government Service premises. Only about 30 of the 400 Units use Service premises. In the past some of these 30 paid rent and some did not.
Accordingly in June of this year instructions were issued to provide general guidance in the matter. All Units occupying Service premises are now to be charged a nominal rent to meet the expenditure on rates, works maintenance and decoration, heating, lighting and cleaning. These rents are generally well below those which would have to be paid on the open market for equivalent premises and facilities; but if any Unit paying this rent can show that it causes an undue financial strain on its resources then I will certainly be prepared to reconsider the amount of the rent sympathetically.
§ Mr. Cleggasked the Secretary of State for Defence what will be the amount of money payable to his Department as a result of charging rent to Sea Cadet units.
§ Mr. FoleyThe information is not readily available, but as soon as it has been obtained I will write to the hon. Member.
§ Mr. Cleggasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many sea cadets joined the Royal Navy or its training schools from Sea Cadet units in the last 10 years.
§ Mr. FoleyRecords are available for the past eight years only. During that period 5,821 members of the Sea Cadet Corps entered the Royal Navy as ratings on regular engagements. No record is maintained of officers with previous service in the Sea Cadet Corps.