§ Mr. Gouldasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if the results of the October census of school meals are now available; how they compare with those of the census carried out in October 1973; and whether he will comment on these arrangements for free meals.
§ Mr. PrenticeIn October 5,773,000 or 70.1 per cent. of pupils present at maintained schools in England and Wales took the school dinner compared with 5,416,000 or 661 per cent. in October 1973. Free dinners served in October numbered 750,000 or 13 per cent. of the total compared with 795,000 or 147 per cent. last year.
A detailed statement of the returns from local education authorities on which these figures are based will be placed in the Library. Because of the changes in local government areas which took place during the year it is not possible on this occasion to provide comparable figures for 1973. This statement, with the agreement of my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Wales, includes returns from Welsh authorities.
The census collected information about pupils buying snack meals in schools and those bringing their own food to eat at midday. The numbers were 26,000 and 458,000 compared with 23,000 and 526,000 last year.
On the day of the census, school dinners were being taken by 76.5 per cent. of all pupils present in primary schools— 72.3 per cent. last year—and by 60.4 319W per cent. in secondary schools—56.5 per cent. last year. All but 3,000 of the snack meals were being taken in secondary schools and 9 per cent. of secondary pupils brought sandwiches compared with 3 per cent. of primary pupils.
The reduced number of free dinners served may be attributed to the general rise in incomes. I intend, however, to remind authorities of the need to take great care that children are not deterred from taking advantage of the free school dinners to which they may be entitled or caused embarrassment by local administrative arrangements.
§ Mr. Gouldasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will make a statement on the school meal charge.
§ Mr. PrenticeAs part of their general review of public expenditure the Government have been examining the charge for the school dinner. The present charge of 12p was introduced in 1971 and now
320W
Notified to Employment Offices Notified to Careers Offices Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing … … … … 1,783 1,101 Mining and Quarrying … … … … 3,502 285 Food, Drink and Tobacco … … … … 6,803 1,758 Coal and Petroleum Products … … … … 201 59 Chemicals and Allied Industries … … … … 4,498 866 Metal Manufacture … … … … 6,820 1,065 Mechanical Engineering … … … … 20,415 2,559 Instrument Engineering … … … … 3,476 768 Electrical Engineering … … … … 13,637 1,887 Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering … … … … 2,210 162 Vehicles … … … … 10,736 510 Metal Goods not elsewhere specified … … … … 11,182 2,844 Textiles … … … … 6,342 2,297 Leather, Leather Goods, and Fur … … … … 939 500 Clothing and Footwear … … … … 11,515 4,907 Bricks, Pottery, Glass, Cement, etc … … … … 3,017 653 Timber, Furniture, etc … … … … 3,485 1,155 Paper, Printing and Publishing … … … … 4,484 2,098 Other Manufacturing Industries … … … … 5,377 1,110 Construction … … … … 13,747 2,656 Gas, Electricity and Water … … … … 1,529 339 Transport and Communication … … … … 18,985 1795 Distributive Trades … … … … 31,295 15,358 Insurance, Banking, Finance and Business Services … … … … 9,617 3,133 Professional and Scientific Services … … … … 23,042 3,920 Miscellaneous Services … … … … 37,346 9,317 Public Administration and Defence … … … … 14,890 2,741 Total, all industries and services … … … … 270,873 65,843 Where a vacancy is notified by an employer to both an employment office and a careers office it is included in both counts; for this reason the two counts are not added to give a figure of total notified vacancies. The numbers of notified vacancies were not received for a small proportion of offices and the table includes estimates for these offices. represents less than 40 per cent. of the average cost of providing the meal. The Government have decided that a new charge of 15p should be introduced as from next April when the revised rates of family allowances, supplementary benefits and a new remission scale for determining entitlement to free school meals will also be introduced.