Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the impact that their funding changes will have on the number of school Combined Cadet Forces.

The Government wants to bring the cadet experience to as many young people as possible. That is why we have introduced the Cadet Expansion Programme, which is on track to deliver 100 new cadet units in state-funded secondary schools in England by 2015.

We are now looking at the best way of funding Combined Cadet Forces and are running a consultation to gather information from schools. No decisions have yet been made, and we will consider carefully the response to this consultation before deciding on future funding arrangements.