§ Mr. Steelasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT the number of families claiming free milk for each quarter since June 1970.
§ Dr. OwenThe information is not available for families or for all quarters but table B below gives the total number of claims, successful or otherwise, made from mid-1970 for free milk under the welfare food scheme in Great Britain on grounds of low income. These figures do not include expectant mothers and young children in families receiving supplementary benefit or family income supplement who qualify automatically for free milk without making a separate claim, nor those receiving free milk on grounds of family size. These factors need to be borne in mind when looking at table B. Table A shows that the total estimated numbers of beneficiaries actually receiving free welfare milk at November 1973 were:
TABLE A In large families (i.e. with more than two young children) 108,000 In families receiving family income supplement 77,000 In families receiving supplementary benefit 228,000 (Provisional) In other families on low income 26,000 (Provisional) Handicapped children not at school 1,000 440,000
TABLE B Number of Weeks Period Ending Number of Claims 13 18th August 1970 288 13 17th November 1970 300 18 23rd March 1971 291 13 22nd June 1971 119,440 13 21st September 1971 31,996 9 23rd November 1971 43,034 17 21st March 1972 32,925 8 16th May 1972 22,320 14 22nd August 1972 17,551 13 21st November 1972 18,205 25 15th May 1973 24,551 13 14th August 1973 8,186 12 6th November 1973 7,948 12 29th January 1974 7,051