§ Mr. Rookerasked the Minister for the Civil Service if he will make a statement on the criteria used in determining whether serving officers and members of diplomatic staff are entitled to have their children educated within the private educational sector at public expense.
§ Mr. Charles R. MorrisThe present arrangements for payment of boarding school allowance to members of the Diplomatic Service, in respect of children resident at boarding school in the United Kingdom, are based on the Report of the Committee on Representational Services Overseas, 1962–63 (Command 2276). The report recognised that of all the special difficulties which face members of the service, that of educating their children and providing for them as normal a home life as possible is by far the greatest; and that since Diplomatic Service staff spend the greater part of their careers overseas, a boarding school education is a necessity if children are to be educated in the British educational system.
Boarding school allowance is available to personnel of the Armed Forces, officers and Service men alike, who wish to secure continuity of education for their children which might otherwise be prevented by the frequency of service postings. The allowance provides assistance with school fees but does not usually cover them in full. The criteria of eligibility are, first, that the parent must not be serving in certain defined static jobs or due to leave the Armed Services within three months, and secondly that the school must be registered with the appropriate Education Department and must provide proper residential facilities. Not all the schools concerned are within the private sector of education.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Minister for the Civil Service what annual amount is paid by Her Majesty's Government to private boarding schools in the United Kingdom 250W for the education of children of serving officers and diplomatic staff; and if he will list each school and the respective contribution by Her Majesty's Government for the latest convient period.
§ Mr. Charles R. MorrisIt is estimated that a total of £21¼ will be paid by way of boarding school allowance to officers and Service men of the three Armed Services during the current financial year of which about £6 million will be recovered in tax. Payment is made to parents on submission of receipted bills. Records of the schools concerned are not maintained centrally.
Boarding school allowance is paid directly to members of the Diplomatic Service against school bills within certain ceilings, and not to individual schools. In the financial year 1974–75 the total amount of boarding school allowance paid to staff in all grades of the Diplomatic Service was about £2 million, of which about £0.4 million has been recovered in tax. I regret that information about the fees paid by members of the Diplomatic Service to individual schools is not readily available.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Minister for the Civil Service how many children of serving officers and diplomatic staff are, at the latest convenient date, undergoing private education at public expense in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Charles R. MorrisAt the latest available date a total of some 21,800 children of Armed Service parents attracted payment of boarding school allowance of whom about 16,000 were the children of officers and about 5,800 were the children of Servicemen.
Boarding school allowance was being paid in respect of 1,879 children of members of all grades in the Diplomatic Service, resident at boarding schools in the United Kingdom.