Third memorandum from the Ministry of
Defence
1. The Uncorrected Transcript for the oral
evidence taken on Tuesday 13 June 2006 has been reviewed by the
Ministry of Defence. From comments made by Members of the Committee
it seems that the Committee may have formed the opinion that the
Ministry of Defence has a two track approach to education, one
for the children of officers and another for the children of other
ranks.
2. The latest evidence presented to the
Committee[14]
shows that more officers are claiming CEA than other ranks (3,074
compared to 1,813). However, statistical evidence on the age demographics
of the Service population, which are available from standard reports
generated by the Defence Analytical Services Agency (DASA) on
behalf of the Office for National Statistics, indicate that there
are a number of other factors that should be considered, such
as:
(b) Expected length of service.
(c) Age of Service personnel whose children
are likely to have reached an age at which continuity of education
may be a compelling issue.
(d) Any expectation of still serving throughout
the period of educational continuity for children.
4. Simply for illustrative purposes, it
is worth noting that the average age of mothers at birth of a
child is over 29 years. [15]Most
Service parents do not consider continuity of education for their
children to be a compelling issue until entering the secondary
stage (11 years old) and the average age for parents at this point
will be 40 years old. On completion of the first critical stage
of education (up to GCSEs), the average age of parents will be
45 years old. At that age there are just under 7,000 officers
still serving, compared to just under 4,800 other ranks. Clearly
there may be some variation between the age profile of the general
population and the Service population. Also, some Service personnel
will use the option of CEA to support boarding for their children
regardless of whether they do, or expect to, remain serving for
the key period of education; but these age factors and profiles
will have an impact on that decision. In any case this is not
intended to be a detailed analysis but simply illustrative of
the impact that the significantly different age profiles between
officers and other ranks can have on the demand for continuity
of education during key stages.
5. The Committee may wish to consider the
statistics for CEA claimants within this broader context. The
Ministry of Defence can emphatically state that it does not endorse
a twin track approach to education and does not differentiate
in any way or at any stage between the children of other ranks
and the children of officers. There is no streaming or selection
for any Service Children Education (SCE) schools, nor is there
any similar discrimination in CEA or for admission to the MOD-funded
boarding schools (Queen Victoria's School and The Duke of York's
Royal Military School). Similarly, there are no rank-based criteria
for admission to state maintained boarding schools, which charge
fees based on boarding only and are also available for the children
of Service parents, for which CEA can be claimed under the normal
rules.
29 June 2006
14 Under cover of D/Parliamentary/20/72 dated 27 June
2006. Back
15
Office for National Statistics (ONS) Vital Statistics, Spring
2006. Back
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