Schools: World War II Anniversary

Earl of Effingham Excerpts

Thursday 30th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I am not going to comment on how many noble Lords were children during the Second World War. I still have my great aunt’s ration card, which is one of my very valued family memories of the Second World War. I agree with the noble and learned Baroness that the stories of children from the Second World War, as told to children, will help them understand the full experience of what war was like. There are children still going through war situations now, including, very sadly, some of the children who may be in our schools. I will not go into the story about my mother talking about the first time she managed to eat chocolate and a banana and hated them, but all of this adds flavour and colour to the stories that we would all want children to learn from and understand.

[The Earl of Effingham (Con)]

My Lords, I am proud to say that my father was president of the Royal British Legion. He loved his time working under the direct command of Admiral Lord West—the noble Lord, Lord West. So I must declare an interest: for them, and for the honorary captain of the Royal Navy Reserve, the noble Baroness, Lady Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent, and every other reservist, active and retired Armed Forces personnel, I want this to be an amazing anniversary. Does the Minister agree that one of the best ways of doing this is via the cadet force, which encourages children between the ages of 12 and 18 to be the best they can be?

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I pay tribute to the noble Earl’s father’s role and to all those in your Lordships’ House who have served or are serving in various capacities in our Armed Forces. I am happy to agree with the noble Earl about the cadet forces. The Combined Cadet Force programme will continue to receive £3.6 million in government funding through the Ministry of Defence for this academic year. This funding supports the ambition for it to grow to 600,000 cadets in 500 school cadet units across the UK. It is in addition to the annual cost to the MoD of the Combined Cadet Force, which is estimated at over £42 million per year. I ought to note that my nephew benefits hugely from being a member of one of the cadet forces.