The Armed Forces Covenant in Action? : Part 3: Educating the Children of Service Personnel, Fourth Report of Session 2013-14, Report, Together with Formal Minutes, Oral and Written Evidence

The Armed Forces Covenant - the commitment made by the Government to those who serve and their families, says that Service children should have the same standard of and access to education as other children in the UK.

The nature of Service life means that families are required to be mobile if they are to accompany the Service parent.

This mobility has major impact on the continuity of children's education; in particular, parents can find it difficult to get their children into the schools of their choice.

The Committee is disappointed that little progress has been made on meeting the needs of Service children with Special Educational Needs by ensuring that their assessments and statements are recognised by all local authorities and devolved administrations.

There has also been limited progress on the development of a transition document for all Service children to address some of the difficulties caused by frequent changes of schools.

The Government needs to address these problems urgently, before large scale moves of Service personnel as forces withdraw from Germany, and as re-basing plans take effect.