Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Armed Forces Covenant Legal Duty as it applies to schools; and whether they plan to update the school admissions code (1) to give priority to children of Service families, and (2) to provide for siblings, where appropriate, to attend the same school.

The government has policies in place to support schools and local authorities to fulfil their duty to give due regard to the Armed Forces Covenant. This includes in specific areas of education provision, including school admissions.

The school admissions code already contains a number of measures to support service children in relation to school admissions.

These measures include requiring admission authorities to allocate school places in advance of a service family moving into the area, where a place is available, provided the application is accompanied by an official letter that declares a re-location date. Children of UK service personnel can also be admitted as exceptions to the infant class size limit if they move outside the normal admission round.

Furthermore, admission authorities are able to give priority in their oversubscription criteria to children in receipt of the Service Pupil Premium, and publicly funded boarding schools must give service children who qualify for Ministry of Defence financial assistance with the cost of boarding fees priority after looked after and previously looked after children.

Admission authorities are already able to give priority to siblings in their admissions criteria where they feel that is appropriate to their local circumstances, although they are not required to do so.

Through the Children’s Wellbeing and School Bill, this government is taking further steps to ensure a more robust safety net for children who struggle to secure a school place via the usual in-year admissions processes, by giving local authorities the levers they need to secure places for children more quickly and efficiently, when the usual in-year admissions processes fall short.