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The MoD spends approximately one million pounds each year to send students to independent educational institutions in northern Wales because "state schools provide various classes in the Welsh language".

It paid £1,019,000 in day school allowance in north Wales for eighty-three students of military families in 2024-2025, and nearly one million pounds for 79 children in 2023-2024 under a established practice.

An official representative stated "service children can face regular relocations" and the allowance "seeks to minimize interruption to their schooling".

The Welsh party called it a "total misuse of funds" and "a disrespect to our language" while the Tory party said parents should be able to select the medium in which their children are taught.

These numbers were obtained following a request 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 public schools provide some or all classes in the Welsh tongue, you can opt to enroll your children to an English-medium private institution".

"Provided you are joined by your family at your duty station, you can use this allowance to pay for the expense of school charges, educational excursions/residential educational courses and daily transport."

A defense ministry representative told, "the purpose of Day School Allowance in North Wales (the allowance) is to support military households stationed to the area, where Welsh is the primary medium of local state education".

"Since relocation is a part of service life, military kids can encounter frequent moves and the this allowance seeks to lessen disruption to their education."

"The MoD acknowledges the sacrifices service personnel, and their families make, and through the stipend helps with the costs of private education given in the English language."

'Where teaching is bilingual or non-English'

The allowance includes tuition fees up to a maximum of £22,755 a year, £7,585 each semester, and is accessible to personnel living in the regions of the county, Denbighshire, the locality, the island or Flintshire and serving in these specific locations:

• The military base, the island
• The combined forces alpine training facility, the island
• The joint military mountain unit, the town
• Wales University Officers' Training Corps (the corps), Bangor unit, Caernarfon

The qualifying independent institutions are Treffos institution, the village, Anglesey; Rydal Penrhos preparatory institution in the town; St Gerard's school, Bangor and St David's institution, the town.

The applicable military policy document confirms that "payment of the stipend is restricted to those areas where instruction in the state sector is on a bilingual or non-English basis".

People serving elsewhere 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 eligible child.

Tory assembly representative the politician said "personnel of the UK military relocate across the nation and the globe, and the ministry have always tried to guarantee that their kids have availability to consistency in education".

"Although we fully support Welsh-language teaching throughout the country, it's important to recognize there are two official languages in our nation, English and Welsh, and municipal authorities and school boards should accommodate each."

"Families should always have the option to decide the medium in which their children are taught."

Plaid Cymru's learning representative the assembly member stated "not just is this a complete waste of funding, it is an insult to our language".

"I cannot think of any justifiable cause to be allocating these funds every year, on preventing youth residing in the country from having the opportunity to acquire the Welsh language."

"Dual-language ability enhances life and aids the development of young people, but the UK government is obviously unaware to this."

"These funds is a perfect example of the attitude of the Westminster parties regarding Wales and the Welsh language - namely ignorance and disrespect."