Speeches

Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much was spent by his Department on private school fees for children whose parents are stationed (a) in the UK and (b) overseas in the last financial year.

Mark Lancaster

Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) was reviewed as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010. Since then, our reforms have reduced costs by around £30 million per annum along with an associated reduction in claimants. Work continues to further reduce the cost of the allowance, whilst ensuring funding goes to those who really need it, with the latest governance changes taking effect on 1 September 2016.

The requested information is provided in the following table.

Continuity of Education Allowance, Number of Claimants and Cost (UK and Overseas) by Financial Year (FY)

FY 2015-16

UK Claimants

3,040

Overseas Claimants

630

Total Claimants

3,670

UK Cost (£ million)

67

Overseas Cost (£ million)

13.8

Total Cost (£ million)

80.8

Note: all numbers are rounded