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The Ministry of Defence spends approximately one million pounds each year to place children to private schools in northern Wales because "public schools provide some or all lessons in the Welsh language".

It paid £1,019,000 in day school allowance in the northern region for 83 children of service personnel in 2024-2025, and £942,000 for seventy-nine students in the previous year under a longstanding policy.

An official representative stated "service children can face regular relocations" and the allowance "aims to reduce disruption to their schooling".

The Welsh party described it as a "total misuse of money" and "an insult to our language" while the Conservatives argued parents should be able to select the language in which their kids are educated.

These numbers were acquired following a inquiry under the Freedom of Information Act.

The online portal of RAF Valley on the island informs its personnel, "for those residing and working in northern Wales, where state schools teach some or all classes in the Welsh language, you may choose to send your kids to an English-language private institution".

"Provided you are accompanied by your household at your posting, you can utilize this allowance to cover the cost of school charges, educational excursions/residential educational courses and daily transport."

An MoD spokesperson explained, "the aim of Day School Allowance in North Wales (DSA-NW) is to support military households posted to the region, where the Welsh tongue is the primary medium of local state education".

"As mobility is a aspect of service life, military kids can face frequent moves and from this allowance aims to lessen interference to their education."

"The ministry acknowledges the contributions service personnel, and their relatives undertake, and from DSA-NW assists with the costs of private education provided in the English language."

'In Areas With Bilingual or Non-English Instruction'

The benefit includes tuition fees up to a limit of twenty-two thousand seven hundred fifty-five pounds a year, seven thousand five hundred eighty-five pounds per term, and is available to people residing in the counties of Conwy, Denbighshire, Gwynedd, Anglesey or Flintshire and working in these specific locations:

• RAF Valley, Anglesey
• Joint Services Mountain Training Centre, the island
• The joint military mountain unit, the town
• The university military training program (UOTC), Bangor unit, the city

The qualifying private schools are Treffos school, Llansadwrn, Anglesey; Rydal Penrhos Prep school in Colwyn Bay; St Gerard's school, Bangor and St David's College, the town.

The applicable joint service publication confirms that "disbursement of the stipend is limited to those areas where instruction in the public system is on a dual-language or non-English foundation".

People stationed in other locations in the multiple services of the military - the Army, the naval service and the air service - can claim a continuity of education allowance which contributes towards residential and/or school charges up to a cap, with a minimum parental contribution of ten percent for each qualifying student.

Tory assembly representative Natasha Asghar said "members of the UK military move around the country and the world, and the MoD has always sought to ensure that their children have availability to continuity in education".

"Although we fully support Welsh-language teaching across Wales, it's crucial to recognize there are dual recognized tongues in our nation, the English tongue and the Welsh language, and municipal authorities and school boards should accommodate both."

"Families should always have the choice to decide the medium in which their kids are instructed."

Plaid Cymru's learning representative Cefin Campbell MS said "not just is this a total misuse of funding, it is an insult to our language".

"It's hard to imagine any valid reason to be spending such money annually, on preventing young people living in the country from having the opportunity to learn the Welsh language."

"Bilingualism enriches experience and aids the growth of youth, but the British administration is clearly blind to this."

"These funds is a perfect example of the approach of the UK political groups regarding Wales and the Welsh language - namely ignorance and insults."