§ Mr. Liddell-GraingerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assistance is given to local areas to raise(a) the level of and (b) finance available to cadet forces. [115616]
§ Dr. MoonieThe Army Cadets and the Air Training Corps are voluntary youth organisations sponsored by the Ministry of Defence and are funded appropriate to the way they are organised. The MOD provides support to both the Army Cadet Force (ACF) and the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) in the form of financial assistance, material and limited regular Army manpower resources. The Air Cadet Organisation is funded in a similar way. Efforts at a local level to raise the profile of, and finance available to, cadet forces must be conducted within the finite resources allocated.
The Sea Cadet Corps (SCC), unlike the Cadet Corps of the other two services who receive the majority of their funding from the MOD, is an independent youth movement administered by the Sea Cadet Association (SCA), which is a registered charity. The MOD support for the SCC is defined in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the SCA agreed in July 2001. Under the MOU we provide annual funding that helps to provide for the HQ for the SCA and covers the cost of a number of personnel. Due to their independent, charitable status, SCC units are responsible for their own affairs such as raising their public profile and funding.