MoD under fire over inequality in school ranks

Dunfermline and West Fife Labour MP Thomas Docherty has asked why the Ministry of Defence continues to "subsidise private schools" at a time when it is being forced to make cuts to troop numbers and equipment.

A written parliamentary answer to Docherty, who serves on the Defence Select Committee, has revealed that the lion's share - 40 million of the 111m a year spent on the Continuity in Education Allowance (CEA) goes to lieutenant colonels and the ranks above, who earn at least 81,000 per year.

While 44 per cent of brigadiers, 42 per cent of major generals, 40 per cent of colonels and 32 per cent of lieutenant generals receive the support, only 0.1 per cent of privates and less than 10 per cent of non-commissioned officers get it, even though the scheme is supposed to be open to all. The allowance is intended to provide service personnel with help towards providing a private education for their children as recompense for continual overseas postings.

But Docherty said that continuing with an allowance which mainly subsidised highly paid officers was completely unacceptable at a time when defence cuts being carried out under the recently published Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) meant that Britain was reducing its military personnel, closing bases, would not have aircraft carriers carrying fighter jets for a decade and had cancelled programmes such as the new Nimrods.

"It is outrageous that the Ministry of Defence is subsidising private education of service personnel that favour the officer ranks," he said.

"Only three per cent of sergeants received this award in the last financial year whereas over a quarter of lieutenant colonel's received this award for their children, showing the huge disparity between officers and non-officers."

He added: "The Ministry of Defence should take this opportunity, now that we are withdrawing personnel from our bases in Germany, to review this scheme."

The allowance pays for all but the first 1,500 a year of independent boarding school fees. In total 111.3 million was paid out last year to 6,020 serving soldiers.

In Scotland it is understood that schools such as Merchiston in Edinburgh, St Leonards in St Andrews, Glenalmond in Perthshire, Gordonstoun and Robert Gordons in the north east and Lomond in Helensburgh all educate children of service personnel receiving the grant and may be hit if the allowance is withdrawn or reduced.

The grant does not affect the Queen Victoria School in Dunblane, which is directly MoD-funded for the children of Scottish armed forces personnel, and of armed forces personnel who have served in Scotland or with a Scottish regiment, whose parents could not afford boarding fees.

A spokesman for the Scottish Council of Independent Schools said: "Provision and allocation of the CEA is a matter for the MoD. However, the real purpose is to provide continuity and security of education for serving forces personnel posted elsewhere, and it is primarily boarding schools which provide that 24/7 continuity .

"Unlike elsewhere in the UK, there are no state-run boarding schools in Scotland - so all such provision exists within the independent sector - and Scotland has an excellent and diverse range of boarding schools which can and do provide that education to forces families."

An MoD spokesman said that there had recently been a review of the scheme to close a loophole on serving personnel abusing the system to ensure the allowance was genuinely being used by soldiers posted away from the UK. However, he added: "The scheme is open to all ranks and it is well used by non-officer ranks, particularly warrant officers. Obviously it doesn't cover all the fees, but it does pay a significant proportion of them and provides important continuity for the families of military personnel."

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