§ 50. Mrs. Alice Cullenasked the Minister of Food in view of the income of old people not being sufficient to enable them to purchase fresh milk at 5d. per pint, if he will consider a scheme whereby a pint of milk could be purchased at 1½ d. per pint as supplied to children at least twice a week
§ Dr. SummerskillI am afraid I cannot add to the reply which my right hon. Friend gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton (Mr. Morley) on 19th October.
§ Mrs. CullenIs my right hon. Friend aware that the milk ration of people, whose entire income is the old age pension supplemented by a grant from the Assistance Board, is a tin of the cheapest brand of condensed milk, and does she not agree that in these winter months a plate of porridge and a drop of fresh milk twice a week would be a Godsend to them?
§ Dr. SummerskillWe have, naturally, sympathy with the old age pensioners, but I must remind my hon. Friend that there are over seven million old people in this country, and if we gave each one two pints of milk a week at the subsidised rate it would cost us over £11 million a year.