§ Mr. Priceasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education whether he is aware that the difficulty in providing milk from local producers in small quantities to school children in rural areas has resulted in a decrease in the quantities supplied; and whether he will consider a scheme for providing milk in these areas from a central distributing depot?
Mr. LindsayAs stated in the replies which I gave on 28th June to the hon. Member for Honiton (Mr. Drewe) and on 15th July to the hon. and gallant Member for the Ayr Burghs (Sir T. Moore), I am aware that difficulty is being experienced in obtaining supplies of milk in certain rural areas because the suppliers claim that the distribution allowance under the milk-in-schools scheme is insufficient. This question is receiving full consideration in connection with the Government's long-term milk policy. While this difficulty has no doubt resulted in a decrease in the quantities of milk 743W supplied in certain districts I have at present no evidence that it has resulted in a general decline, as on the 31st March, 1937, the latest date for which figures are available, the number of public elementary school children taking milk under the scheme in the county areas in England and Wales was 54,000 greater than on 1st October, 1936, although the total number of children in the schools in those areas had fallen by 18,000. I will consider the suggestion that milk in rural areas should be supplied from a central distributing depot, but this would present some serious practical difficulties.