§ Mr. FatchettTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many children of serving officers in each service have school fees subsidised at public expense; which schools are involved; how many children of service personnel attend each; and what was the cost of this provision for 1993–94 and 1994–95.
§ Mr. SoamesMy Department provides support to service parents for the education of their children by means of boarding school allowance; this is paid to assist in providing a stable education for their children in the face of the domestic turbulence frequently encountered in service life. The numbers of children in receipt of boarding school allowance in the academic year 1993–94, broken down by service, was: Royal Navy 2,492; Army 6,034; Royal Air Force 4,041. The cost of this provision for 1993–94 was £113.61 million. The total estimated expenditure for financial year 1994–95 is £104 million. Total expenditure reflects both the rate of the allowance and the total number of children in receipt of the allowance per term. I am arranging for a copy of the most recent, June 1994, list of schools and the number of children attending those schools who are in receipt of boarding school allowance to be placed in the Library of the House.
§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many children have benefited from the boarding school allowance in each of the last four years.
§ Mr. SoamesThe total number of children for whom boarding school allowance was claimed in the academic years in question was:
- 1990–1991: 17,910
- 1991–1992: 16,208
- 1992–1993: 15,120
- 1993–1994: 12,567
§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make statement about his future plans for the service children's boarding school allowance scheme.
§ Mr. SoamesMy Department has no plans to amend the service children's boarding school allowance scheme. Service career and manpower structures and terms and conditions of service are, however, at present the subject of an independent review which I announced on 30 March 1994,Official Report, column 752.
§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the total cost of the boarding school allowance scheme in each of the last five years; and what is the projected cost for 1995–96.
§ Mr. SoamesThe total cost to my Department of boarding school allowance for the years in questions was:
- 1990–1991: £105,61 million
- 1991–1992: £115.35 million
- 1992–1993: £116.72 million
- 1993–1994: £113.61 million
The total estimated expenditure for financial year 1994–95 is £104 million. Total expenditure reflects both the rate of the allowance and the total number of children in receipt of the allowance per term and it is not therefore possible to give an accurate assessment of the likely costs for 1995–96, although they are estimated to be similar to the amounts for 1994–95.
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§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the private and independent schools which take children paid for from the service boarding allowance and have had full Ofsted reports; and if he will list those schools where all of the service parents have received copies of these reports in the last two years.
§ Mr. SoamesThe total list of Ofsted reports on schools at which children benefitting from boarding school allowance are being educated is as follows:
School Sherborne preparatory school, Dorset Ofsted reports already forwarded to parents Finborough school, Suffolk Lime House school, Cumbria Roedean school. East Sussex St. Mary's school, East Sussex Caldicott school, Bucks Ofsted reports currently being Forwarded to parents Perrott Hill school, Crewkerne Seaford college, near Petworth Shrewsbury school, Shropshire
§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what criteria his Department uses to determine whether a private or independent school may receive funding through the boarding school allowance scheme.
§ Mr. SoamesA list of some 800 schools in respect of which boarding school allowance may be paid is kept by my Department. Schools on the list are those which provide a normal standard of United Kingdom education and whose boarding facilities are under their immediate control. The school must also be registered with the Department for Education and must attain the acceptable standard of education as required by that Department. Further to this, the Service Children's Education Authority conducts its own school visits to satisfy itself as to the quality of accommodation and pastoral activities available.
§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if all parents of children benefiting from the service boarding allowance have received copies of Ofsted reports made on those schools that have had a full inspection in the last two years.
§ Mr. SoamesMy Department has been provided with copies of reports dating back to February 1993. Since April 1994, the Office for Standards in Education has included the Service Children's Education Authority on the distribution lists of their inspection reports for private and independent schools. It is my Department's policy for the SCEA to forward these reports to service personnel whose children are identified as attending those schools. Due to an administrative error, a number of recent Ofsted reports had not been passed to the SCEA for onward transmission to parents, but this situation is now being rectified.
§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the names and locations of the private and independent schools receiving moneys from the service children's boarding school allowance; and if he will give the number of service children at each of the schools listed and show how much each school is receiving.
§ Mr. SoamesI refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave today to the hon. Member for Leeds, Central (Mr. Fatchett). Information on how much each school 371W receives in boarding school allowance is not maintained centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.