Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information his Department holds on the number of veterans who were part of the Balloon Unit of Operation Grapple Z in 1958; and how many of those veterans were alive as at 3 February 2021.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
The information is not held in the format requested. The unit records for the Balloon Unit are in the public domain and are held by The National Archives. The Ministry of Defence does not collect data on all Service personnel once they have left the Armed Forces and therefore the number of veterans who were part of the Balloon Unit of Operation Grapple Z in 1958 and were alive on 3 February 2021 is not held.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) women and (b) men his Department has appointed to each of his Department's non-Departmental Public Bodies in each of the last five years.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Commissioner for Public Appointments completes and publishes an annual data survey of all new appointments and reappointments made to boards of public bodies by Government, including the overall gender diversity.
Data on the gender diversity of new non-executive appointees to public boards for 2012 to 2015 is published at the following address: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/diversity-in-public-appointments
Information on the gender of new public appointees in 2016-17 is available in the 'Public Appointments Diversity Action Plan' which was published in December 2017 and can be found at the following address: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-appointments-diversity-action-plan
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much was spent by his Department on private school fees for children of staff who are based (a) in the UK and (b) overseas in 2016-17.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
During financial year (FY) 2016-17, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) spent £103.4 million on Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) for the children of Service personnel; this equates to £87.1 million for Service personnel assigned to the UK and £16.3 million for Service personnel assigned overseas. The earlier than usual processing of CEA claims for summer term 2017 has caused £23 million of expenditure to be accounted for in the last accounting period of FY 2016-17 rather than, as in previous years, the first accounting period of FY 2017-18. This accounting practice does not detract from the progress made since 2010 in reducing spend on this allowance.
The MOD also pays Boarding School Allowance and Day School Allowance towards schooling costs for the children of civilian employees who are posted overseas, with a small amount paid to officers who have returned to the UK but have continuing entitlement. In FY 2016-17 this amounted to £0.457 million, with £0.053 million paid to staff based in the UK and £0.404 million paid to staff based overseas.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
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.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
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
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of his Department's staff are in receipt of support for private school fees for children whose parents are stationed (a) in the UK and (b) overseas.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
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