§ Mrs. Dunwoodyasked the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the cost of the boarding school allowance; how many children have benefited from this; and what has been the annual average unit cost of this allowance in each of the last 10 financial years.
§ Mr. LeeThe information is as follows:
Year Cost of boarding school allowance* £ million
Number of children claimed for Average cost per child £
1974–75 16.00 21,747 735.73 1975–76 21.25 21,800 974.77 1976–77 29.00 20,045 1,446.75 1977–78 33.00 21,700 1,520.74 1978–79 32.00 20,358 1,571.86 1979–80 35.00 19,540 1,791.20 1980–81 42.3 20,637 2,049.72 1981–82 60.00 21,308 2,815.84 1982–83 65.00 21,000 3,095.24 †1983–84 73.50 21,450 3,426.57 Notes * Actual expenditure for the year concerned in respect of boarding school allowance payments to service personnel. † Estimated expenditure, number and average cost.