Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 July 2021 to Question 23128 on Armed Forces: Private Education, how much funding his Department allocated to the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) to fund places at Millfield School in the financial year (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18, (c) 2018-19 and (d) 2019-20; and how many places were funded through the CEA in each of those financial years.

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. Each claimant is required to contribute at least 10 per cent of the fees at independent schools.

The cost to Defence of CEA funding places at Millfield School (Preparatory and Senior) and the number of places supported during Financial Years (FY) 2016-17 to 2019-20 was as follows: