§ Mr. McGOVERNasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will cause inquiry to be made by school medical officers as to the physical condition of children whose parents have been on Employment Exchange or parish council benefit for a period of five years or more?
§ Mr. JOHNSTONAn inquiry on the lines desired could only be carried out with the concurrence of the local authorities and would involve a very serious amount of preliminary labour in identifying the children concerned. If there is insufficient feeding due to poverty of the parents the ill-effects on the children would be observable before the expiry of a five years' period, but my right hon. Friend is considering whether it would be practicable to institute a medical examination of such children or a representative sample of them after the school holidays. Meantime, I may add that the school medical officers exercise continuing supervision of the health of all school schildren and that it is the 251W duty of the local authority to deal with any cases of malnutrition that may be discovered.