§ 12. Mr. David Clarkasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many primary school children in the West Riding receive free milk on medical grounds at the latest convenient date; and what this is as a percentage of those medically examined for the provision of such milk.
§ Mr. van Straubenzee205 in October, 1971. No information is available about the number of children examined for this purpose.
§ Mr. ClarkDoes not the Minister realise that it is a frightening answer that out of 109,000 junior school children in the West Riding only 205 receive free milk on medical grounds? Will the Minister look into this matter, because there must be many junior school children in the West Riding who are suffering because they are not getting the milk they need on medical grounds?
§ Mr. van StraubenzeeI hope the hon. Gentleman will accept that I am as concerned as he is that any child who is entitled to milk should get it. He may not have appreciated that the figure I have given is necessarily one taken in October, 1970, very soon after the new arrangements came into effect.
§ Mr. DeakinsDoes not the Minister agree that the process of medically examining children to see whether they need free school milk has became a farce in the past few months? The figures given in answers from the Government in recent weeks show that the percentage varies enormously from one local authority to another and can only reflect differing standards adopted by various local authorities?
§ Mr. van StraubenzeeIt is much too early to come to conclusions so determined as that. When the statistics are available from the next census it may be possible to draw a conclusion.