Michael Fallon has announced 150 new army cadet units for state schools, with the first launched on Tuesday at the Birmingham school at the centre of the “Trojan horse” row over alleged attempts to introduce a hardline Islamist ethos.
Speaking to the Conservative party conference, Fallon said the Ministry of Defence would create the cadet units for state schools, with 25 launching this week, a scheme he said gave young cadets “the skills and confidence they need to thrive”. The policy was first championed under the previous government.
The defence secretary will launch the first unit on Tuesday afternoon during a visit to Rockwood Academy, formerly Park View school, in Saltley, east Birmingham.
The school, Fallon said, was “a phoenix from the ashes of a Trojan horse school that is now instilling British values, instead of promoting religious segregation”.
Park View and other schools in Birmingham made headlines in 2014 after an anonymous letter named its chair of governors as being part of an alleged plot by hardline Islamists to control the ethos of schools in the area which had a majority of Muslim pupils.
Though the claims were never substantiated, Ofsted inspectors downgraded Park View from outstanding to inadequate, saying it was failing to safeguard pupils from extremist influence.
Now Rockwood Academy, the school has been upgraded to an Ofsted rating of “good” in its latest inspection, and praised for how “fundamental British values are promoted highly effectively”.
There are currently about 300 school cadet units across the UK, but fewer than 100 in the state sector, with more than two-thirds in private schools.
During Fallon’s speech – in which he also confirmed controversial plans for the military to opt out from the European convention on human rights during future conflicts, to avert what the government called an “industry of vexatious claims” against soldiers – the defence secretary also said the UK would continue to resist efforts for the creation of an EU army.
“We will go on blocking an EU army, which would simply undermine Nato,” Fallon said, reiterating that the UK was still committed to meeting the 2% Nato defence spending target.
Fallon will travel to Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria on Wednesday, where he said he would be “cutting steel on the first new Successor Trident submarine”.
In a separate speech at the Conservative conference, the lord chancellor, Liz Truss, announced a scheme for armed forces personnel to encourage veterans to become prison officers.
“Who better to instil the virtues of discipline?” she said. “Who better to show what you can achieve in life with courage and integrity? They will help our prison officers lead the change. Safety on our streets and safety in our jails – that’s the policy of this government.”