HC Deb 11 November 1937 vol 328 cc1855-7W
Lieut.-Colonel Heneage

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education whether his attention has been drawn to the difficulties in the provision of milk in rural schools in Lincolnshire; and whether he has any statement to make in the matter?

Mr. Lindsay

The Board are aware that the percentages of schools operating the milk-in-schools scheme and of children taking milk in Lincolnshire are low. This is probably due in part to difficulties such as are being experienced in some other rural areas, and to which I have recently referred in answers to other questions, and in part to the difficulty in some districts of finding milk which the county medical officer is prepared to regard as safe.

Mr. Henderson Stewart

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education whether he is aware of the decline in the number of school children supplied with cheap milk in schools in rural districts; what is the reason for the decline; and what steps he is taking to deal with it?

Mr. Lindsay

I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I. gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Devizes (Sir P. Hurd) on 8th November, a copy of which I am sending him.

Brigadier-General Brown

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education whether he is aware that the restrictive regulations imposed by county medical authorities on milk supplied to schools in rural districts make it often impossible for the children to get any milk; and whether he will call a conference with the County Councils Association to consider the supply of accredited milk in bulk to the schools which will not entail bottling or pasteurisation and which is available locally?

Mr. Lindsay

My Noble Friend is aware that in the case of some rural schools the county medical officer has been unable to approve for the purpose of Clause 6 of the Milk-in-Schools Scheme the source and quality of the supply of milk proposed. As, however, only 7 per cent. of the public elementary school children in England and Wales are in schools where the Milk-in-Stools Scheme is not in operation, and as the failure to operate the scheme is due to a. variety of reasons, it is clear that the number of children who are unable to obtain milk owing to the county medical officer' s refusal to approve the supply must he small. My Noble Friend has no evidence that the power of county medical officers to refuse approval has been unreasonably used, and in view of the danger to children of drinking infected milk, he would be very reluctant to do anything to interfere with their discretion in the matter. The suggestion that milk should be supplied in bulk raises another question, which is at present being considered, as also is the question of the distribution allowance payable to rural producers, and in the meantime it would be premature to call a conference with the County Councils Association.