§ 12. Mr. Buchanasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what percentage of children in each of the local authorities which have completed an examination of all children have been certified so far as requiring milk on medical grounds.
§ Mr. MonroWith permission, I will circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT the 1495 figures available about the issue of certificates stating that the pupil's health requires that he should be provided with milk at school. So far as I am aware no authority has had all its primary pupils medically examined for this purpose or intends to do so.
§ Mr. BuchanIs the hon. Gentleman aware that the figures we have seen so far make a nonsense of the whole affair, with some schools having a take-up of over 90 per cent. and some with virtually no take-up at all? It is clear that there are no criteria to guide medical officers of health in this matter. Will the hon. Gentleman make it clear that no Scottish child need be deprived of milk if the local medical officer thinks that milk should be provided for good health?
§ Mr. MonroWe have always made it clear that the decision in each individual case depends on the professional judgment of the medical officer. Some variation between areas and schools is hound to arise. The answer to the hon. Gentleman's query on the preventive aspect is that we are not giving specific advice to medical officers but simply suggesting that in the exercise of their professional judgment in any particular case they may properly take into account any relevant preventive factors.
§ Dr. MillerDoes the hon. Gentleman have any method of monitoring the extent of radioactivity to which children might be exposed, so that if it rises above an unacceptable level milk can once again be supplied to them since it is a very good method of absorbing the rays?
§ Mr. MonroYes, indeed. The different authorities' areas in Scotland are being monitored for that very reason.
§ Mr. William HamiltonDespite the present Government's promise at the last election to give more freedom to local authorities, can the hon. Gentleman say whether they have now all been whipped into line on this matter?
§ Mr. MonroThere are still two authorities that have the matter under discussion but otherwise all have now accepted the procedure of the 1947 Act, produced by the hon. Gentleman's Government, no doubt with the involvement 1496 of the right hon. Member for Kilmarnock (Mr. Ross).
§ Following is the information:
§ Percentages of pupils in 7–11 years age-group in education authority schools who have medical certificates for free school milk are as follows:
| EDUCATION AUTHORITY | |
| Burghs | |
| Aberdeen | 6.63 |
| Dundee | 0.06 |
| Edinburgh | 2.11 |
| Glasgow | 11.08 |
| Counties | |
| Aberdeen | 0.02 |
| Angus | 1.77 |
| Argyll | 0.08 |
| Ayr | Not available |
| Banff | 1.06 |
| Berwick | 0.64 |
| Bute | 0.18 |
| Caithness | 5.06 |
| Clackmannan | 0 |
| Dumfries | 1.50 |
| Dunbarton | Not available |
| East Lothian | 0.07 |
| Fife | 4.12 |
| Inverness | 0.15 |
| Kincardine | 0.93 |
| Kirkcudbright | 0.05 |
| Lanark | 40.20 |
| Midlothian | 14.60 |
| Moray and Nairn | 0.14 |
| Orkney | 1.06 |
| Peebles | 4.41 |
| Perth and Kinross | 0.12 |
| Renfrew | 0.35 |
| Ross and Cromarty | 0 |
| Roxburgh | 2.13 |
| Selkirk | 1.43 |
| Stirling | 0.97 |
| Sutherland | 0 |
| West Lothian | 0.83 |
| Wigtown | 0.93 |
| Zetland | 0 |
§ 31. Mr. Robert Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Scotland which local authorities in Scotland are carrying out examinations of children in primary schools in order to issue milk on medical grounds.
§ Mr. MonroThe Education (Milk) Act does not require an education authority to have pupils examined for this purpose. The authority's duty is to provide milk for primary pupils over the age of seven in respect of whom there is in force a certificate by a medical officer of the authority stating that their health requires that they should be provided with milk at school.
§ Mr. HughesDoes not the Secretary of State's recent advice that milk may be 1497 provided on preventive grounds make it necessary for him to issue a circular encouraging all local authorities to have the most searching medical examination made of their pupils so that milk can be provided to the maximum number of children who need this nutrient?
§ Mr. MonroThe hon. Gentleman is not correctly stating the position. I wish that he and his hon. Friends would remember that under the 1968 Act no secondary school children receive school milk whether for medical reasons or otherwise.