Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) sixth form scholarships, (b) university bursaries and (c) other bursaries have been awarded by his Department in each of the last five years; and what the total value of those scholarships and bursaries were in each of those years.
The Ministry of Defence keeps accurate records of the number and value of scholarships and bursaries awarded. However, the Defence Recruiting System has no field to record the status of a school i.e. state or private. This means that a determination as to school status would require every case to be manually opened and individual documents scrutinised.
Awards of scholarships and bursaries are made on merit alone and the status of an applicant’s school has no bearing on the outcome of any decisions. For that reason, the Department has no plans to create a central record of the school status of recipients of scholarships and bursaries.
The single Services have provided the following information on bursaries and scholarships:
Naval Service:
| Bursaries | Total Value of Bursaries | Defence Technical Undergraduate Scheme (DTUS) | Total value of DTUS | Scholarships | Total Value of Scholarships |
2017 | 16 | £51,500 | 40 | £160,000 | 10 | £10,500 |
2018 | 17 | £50,500 | 23 | £92,000 | 11 | £16,500 |
2019 | 17 | £50,500 | 33 | £132,000 | 16 | £24,000 |
2020 | 3 | £9,500 | 41 | £164,000 | 1 | £1,500 |
Note: information from 2016 is not held.
Army:
| Bursaries |
2015-16 | 59 |
2016-17 | 110 |
2017-18 | 133 |
2018-19 | 109 |
2019-20 | 130 |
Note: figures for 2016-17 are for Standard Bursary awards only. Figures for all other years also include Technical Bursary and Enhanced Bursary awards
Professionally Qualified Officer (Medical) Bursaries 2016-2019
Year | Doctors | Dentist | Vets | Nurses | Soldier Nurses | Total Awards |
2016 | 23 | 1 | 2 | 1 | N/A | 27 |
2017 | 32 | 2 | 3 | 1 | N/A | 38 |
2018 | 28 | 1 | 1 | 4 | N/A | 34 |
2019 | 30 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 38 |
Army Officer Scholarship Scheme Awards 2015-2019
Year | Scholarship |
2015 | 61 |
2016 | 40 |
2017 | 37 |
2018 | 73 |
2019 | 59 |
In the time available, the Army have not been able to provide complete financial information for 2016-17 and 2017-18. In addition, all the following figures are approximate:
Army Spend on Bursaries and Scholarships 2016-17 to 2019-20
2016-17 – £930,000
2017-18 – £1.4 million
2018-19 – £3 million
2019-20 – £3.8 million
Royal Air Force (RAF):
In each of the last five Financial Years (FY, 2016-17 to 2020-21) the RAF have awarded 100 university bursaries. The total value of these bursaries in each FY was approximately £850,000 to £900,000.