HC Deb 26 July 1946 vol 426 cc64-5W
Mr. C. Smith

asked the Minister of Education the number of children receiving school meals in primary and grant-aided secondary schools in Colchester at the most recent convenient date; the number in receipt of these meals in 1939; and the proportion of all children of school age which these figures respectively represent.

Miss Wilkinson

Separate figures are available only for public elementary schools in Colchester and, owing to the changes made by the Education Act, 1944, do not go beyond February, 1945. The daily number of children then having dinner at school was 1,622 out of 4,598 present. In 1938–39 approximately 80 children daily had dinner, or some other meal, at school out of an average attendance of 4,907.