HC Deb 29 July 1941 vol 373 c1248
42. Mrs. Hardie

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he is aware of the conclusions arrived at by the Ministry of Food as to the necessary ingredients of a balanced meal; and whether he will confer with that Ministry with a view to providing such a meal to every child at school from September throughout the winter?

Mr. Johnston

The answer to the first part of the Question is in the affirmative. With regard to the second part of the Question, it is the duty of education authorities to provide meals for all necessitous school children, and I have encouraged authorities to extend this service to all other school children on payment of the bare cost of the food. At present, some 50,000 school children in Scotland are obtaining a well balanced meal daily; and this number, I hope, will be steadily increased.

Mrs. Hardie

While I thank my right hon. Friend for his reply, will he put more pressure on local authorities to provide these meals for necessitous children, in view of the fact that it is practically impossible for the mothers to get the food in the shops, even if they have the money?

Mr. Johnston

I quite agree. We are taking every step we can to encourage the local authorities. There are difficulties about cooking equipment and so on, but we hope that these are being rapidly overcome.