Response to the MoD announcement on CCF Funding

Charlotte Vere, Acting General Secretary, Independent Schools Council, said:

“The Combined Cadet Force has been a long established and important part of the vibrant extra-curricular opportunities that our schools offer. We are delighted that the Ministry of Defence have decided to leave the current funding system in place. We are immensely relieved that they listened to what our Heads have said about the high level of costs our schools already contribute to run CCF units.”

Thomas Garnier, Headmaster of Pangbourne College and the CCF representative for HMC, said:

“I was delighted to receive Major General Crackett’s latest letter. The original proposals showed little understanding of the commitment which schools make to their CCF units and the additional costs would have put the entire CCF movement at risk. It has been a worrying six months for heads but I am delighted that the MOD has listened and it is to the credit of the Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon, that he has had the courage and good sense to reverse the plans of his predecessor.”

Simon Davies, Headmaster of Eastbourne College, said:

“It is very good news that the plans to fundamentally change the funding of CCF units, announced earlier in the year, have been reversed. The right decision has been taken. “Eastbourne College already has a section from a local maintained school as part of its strength. This has a cost to the College which we bear without hesitation because we believe it is the right thing to do to work with other local schools - as we do, through ESP (Eastbourne Schools Partnership) through which local schools (maintained and independent, working together for mutual benefit) collaborate to provide academic enrichment; in sport and the creative arts; in charitable activity.”