§ Mr. Knoxasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many children attended schools in the Leek parliamentary constituency in September 1975; what proportion took school dinners; what proportion of those taking school dinners had free dinners; and how these figures compare with those for each of the past five years.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonThis information is not available in relation to parliamentary constituencies and could not be provided without a special inquiry. Statistics relating to the take-up of school meals in Staffordshire as a whole are as follows:
Year Pupils in attendance Percentage of pupils in attendance taking school dinners Per cent. Percentage of pupils taking dinners who receive them free of charge Per cent. 1975 … 176,846 68.3 11.8 1974 … 173,970 69.0 11.3 1973 … 134,747 63.7 11.1 1972 … 126,291 62.1 12.6 1971 … 123,153 57.6 13.4 1970 … 117,530 67.6 9.3 Notes:
1. Because of local government reorganisation the figures for years before 1974 are not directly comparable with those for later years.
2. The figures of pupils in attendance relate to a day in October on which the school meals census for the year in question was taken.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list, for each local authority and for England and Wales as a whole, the number of pupils receiving free school meals, the proportion of the school population that this figure represents, the number of pupils over the compulsory school leaving age who are receiving free school meals and the proportion of those pupils at school beyond the school leaving age that this represents.
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§ Miss Margaret JacksonThe latest figures of the number of pupils receiving free school meals in each area and the proportion which this represents of the number of pupils in attendance relate to a day in the autumn term 1975 and details have already been placed in the Library of the House in connection with the Answer to a Question put down by my hon. Friend the Member for Chorley (Mr. Rodgers) on 15th December 1975. I am sending my hon. Friend a copy of these details. Corresponding statistics relating to pupils over school leaving age are not regularly collected and could not be obtained without special inquiry; but information relating to the autumn term 1974, received in connection with a survey of educational maintenance allowances, showed that about 4 per cent. of such pupils received free meals compared with about 9 per cent. of pupils of all ages.—[Vol. 902, c. 501.]