Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding his Department has allocated to the Continuity of Education Allowance to fund schools places (a) globally and (b) in England in each of the last five financial years.

The aim of Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) is to assist 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 families as result of consecutive assignments, both in the UK and overseas.

CEA is an allowance claimed by qualifying Service personnel, within a strict governance framework, which is then paid to qualifying schools, all of which are in the United Kingdom (Great Britain and Northern Ireland). The total cost of CEA, and that paid to schools in England only, for the last five Financial Years (FY), is as follows: