§ Mrs. Dunwoodyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what evidence there is that drinking milk at school is of benefit to the health of schoolchildren;
(2) whether his Department's recent recommendations, that whole fat milk be eliminated from the diet in order to reduce overall fat intake, will be taken into consideration in respect of the milk distributed to schoolchildren.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergThis Department has not recommended that whole fat milk should be eliminated from the diet. It is widely accepted that milk is one of the sources of energy and nutrition for growing children. School milk may be of particular nutritional benefit to some children from deprived backgrounds, as shown in a study of eight-year-old children carried out in South Wales by the medical research council epidemiology unit, Cardiff.