HC Deb 14 January 2004 vol 416 c763W
Mr. Swayne

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions have taken place between his Department, the Department for Education and Skills and the Treasury regarding the funding of local education authority schools which have a significant number of pupils from service families. [147137]

Mr. Caplin

Funding of local education authority schools is a matter for the Department for Education and Skills and the relevant departments in the devolved Administrations. We have frequent contact with the Department for Education and Skills to discuss the issues faced by schools with children from the Service population and ensure that the provision meets their educational requirements.

Mr. Swayne

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent estimate he has made of the number of children from service families being educated in local education authority-maintained schools. [147142]

Mr. Caplin

We do not hold statistics on the type of school attended by dependent children from service families. However, we estimate that there are between 80,000 and 100,000 attending state schools in the UK.