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Armed Forces Personnel

I welcome my hon. Friend’s announcement on extending combined cadet force schemes in schools. However, several Members have been concerned over many years about the disparity of funding between the three cadet forces—the air cadets, the sea cadets and the Army cadets. The RAF cadets have full funding whereas the others are funded on a comparable basis to the Scout Association. I do not begrudge them that one little bit—in fact, I would like to see it extended to the other cadet services—but it is an unfair anomaly that needs to be remedied soon so that there is parity of treatment.