§ Mr. JannerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) how many schoolchildren in the county of 235W Leicestershire received discretionary free milk in 1987; how many such children now receive discretionary free milk; and how many and what percentage of such children were or are, respectively, in schools for children with special needs;
(2) how many children in the county of Leicestershire received discretionary free milk at school under supplementary benefit or family income supplement rules but are no longer receiving the same under the new income support rules;
(3) how many schoolchildren in Leicestershire in 1987 received free school meals and milk; how many now receive the same; and what percentage have lost such entitlement;
(4) how many special schools in the city of Leicester have been affected by the removal of discretionary free school milk; which schools are so affected; and how many and what percentage of children attending each of those schools have lost that entitlement;
(5) how many and what percentage of children in special schools in the city of Leicester and in the county of Leicestershire, respectively, received school meals before the recent changes in entitlement to free school meals; and how many such pupils no longer receive school meals.
§ Mr. DunnIn October 1987, the latest date for which data are available, about 18,751 pupils (or 16 per cent.) in Leicestershire received free school meals, of whom 330 pupils (or 0.3 per cent.) attended special schools. Information in respect of the city of Leicester is not separately available. For further information on school meals I refer the hon. and learned Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Leicester, East (Mr. Vaz) on 25 May.
Information on the take-up of discretionary free school milk is not collected centrally. Children whose families are in receipt of income support continue to be eligible to receive free milk at midday.