§ 20. Mr. KENNEDYasked the Secretary for Scotland whether he is aware that the Scottish Board of Health has issued a circular intimating that it is proposed to reduce the grant for milk and meals for nursing and expectant mothers and infants forthwith, involving a. reduction from £100,000 to £9,000; whether he is aware that, in consequence, the Glasgow City Council has had to curtail its services, and that 13,000 children have been deprived of a pint of milk daily and 7,000 of a dinner; and whether, in view of the present distress due to unemployment, the circular will be withdrawn?
§ Mr. PRATT (Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health, Scotland)A circular has been issued intimating that the grant in aid of expenditure on food and milk provided under Maternity Service and Child Welfare Schemes has been limited for the current year to £6,000. I am sending a copy of the circular to the hon. Member. I understand that the town council of Glasgow has decided, in view of the limitation of the grant in aid, to restrict their scheme to the supply of milk to bottle-fed babies and meals to mothers, and that milk supplies from the council to children have ceased in, approximately, 11,000 cases, and meals in 6,000 cases. Having regard to the real objects of Maternity and Child Welfare Schemes, and to the fact that parish councils have received special statutory powers to deal with distress arising from unemployment, I cannot entertain the suggestion in the last part of the question.