Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help improve the (a) employment, (b) training and (c) educational opportunities available for young people participating in cadet programmes.

The government, through the Ministry of Defence, provides in the region of £180 million to support cadets schemes. The Cadet Expansion Programme will receive £3.6 million in government funding for this academic year and through to the 2033/2034 financial year. This goes to the single Service (i.e. Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force) cadet organisations, to provide funding for cadet expansion in schools.

The department provides £3.5 million to enable cadets to achieve an ‘out of school hours’ level 2 or 3 vocational qualification. The qualifications recognise the wide variety of skills, including teamwork, communication and leadership skills that cadets gain while attending their unit, which are transferable to further and higher education, as well as the workplace.

These qualifications are directly linked to community, social action and volunteering, and are carefully mapped to the training programmes of the cadet forces. For the cadet forces, the current offer is:

• BTEC Level 1 in Teamwork and Personal Skills for Uniformed Youth Organisations. 1 year course, age range: 13 to 15.
• BTEC Level 2 in Teamwork and Personal Development in the Community. 2 year course, age range: 16 to 18.
• ILM Level 3 Award in Leadership and Management. 1 year course, age range: 16 +.

Further details are available here: https://cvcollege.org/our_qualifications/.

There are no current plans to make an assessment of the merits of introducing 16 to 18 scholarships for young people participating in cadets programmes. However, there are initiatives at a local level to support cadets with financial barriers to participate.