Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost to the public purse was of Continuity of Education allowances for placements at (a) Eton College, (b) Winchester College, (c) Westminster School and (d) Millfield School in the last five years.
Answered by James Heappey
The table below details the cost to the public purse of Continuity of Education allowances for placements at Eton College, Winchester College and Millfield School in the last five years.
No Continuation of Education Allowance values were recorded for Westminster School.
Tax Year | Eton College- Windsor | Millfield School- Street | Winchester College- Winchester | Grand Total |
2017-18 | £230,294.70 | £607,592.36 | £95,605.83 | £933,492.89 |
2018-19 | £184,591.80 | £570,142.51 | £60,924.60 | £815,658.91 |
2019-20 | £115,259.00 | £617,390.25 | £84,904.40 | £817,553.65 |
2020-21 | £182,416.42 | £656,840.03 | £101,204.60 | £940,461.05 |
2021-22 | £172,603.50 | £665,306.84 | £94,164.00 | £932,074.34 |
Grand Total | £885,165.42 | £3,117,271.99 | £436,803.43 | £4,439,240.84 |
Actual costed value between 01 April and 31 March each year. Adjusted for Retrospective Payments and Collection of Overpayments.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many members of the Armed Forces claimed Continuity of Education Allowance in 2021-22 for UK-based private school fees; and how many claimants there were at each NATO rank.
Answered by James Heappey
The below table details the number of Service Personnel that have received Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) for UK-based Private School fees in 2021-22 broken down by NATO Rank.
Nato Rank | Distinct Count of Employees |
OF1 | ~ |
OF2 | 260 |
OF3 | 340 |
OF4 | 470 |
OF5 | 240 |
OF6 | 70 |
OF7 | 20 |
OF8 | 10 |
OF9 | ~ |
OR2 | 30 |
OR3 | 50 |
OR4 | 260 |
OR6 | 350 |
OR7 | 320 |
OR8 | 190 |
OR9 | 90 |
Grand Total | 2,720 |
Rounded figures are to the nearest five, with numbers below five replaced by the tilde symbol ('~'). All figures have been rounded to the nearest 10, numbers ending in 5 have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to avoid systematic bias. Totals have been rounded separately and therefore may not equal the sum of their rounded parts.
Due to the possibility of rank changes in year between CEA claims, only the most senior rank for each individual has been retained in order to avoid counting the same individual twice.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding was allocated to Continuity of Education Allowance for boarding schools in the UK in 2021-22.
Answered by James Heappey
Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) is provided by the Ministry of Defence to eligible Service Personnel (SP) to assist them funding a place in a boarding school to achieve continuity of education for their children that would otherwise be denied in the maintained day school sector if their children accompanied them on frequent and consecutive assignments. CEA is available to all SP irrespective of rank, subject to them satisfying the eligibility criteria.
The total spend on CEA in Financial Year 2021-22 was £83,460,088. SP are required to make a personal contribution of 8% for the state sector, or 10% for the independent sector. CEA is subject to a termly cap and SP are required to pay any fees in excess of this.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many cases of fraud relating to the Continuity of Education Allowance have been recorded since 2012.
Answered by James Heappey
The number of cases of fraud relating to the Continuity of Education Allowance recorded since 2012 is 12.
Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) assists Service personnel to achieve continuity of education for their children that would otherwise be denied in the state-maintained day school sector due to the mobility of their family. CEA is available to all Service personnel, irrespective of rank, subject to them satisfying the qualifying criteria. Service personnel may select from a wide variety of schools across the UK from within the independent and state-maintained sectors that meet set criteria.