School Meals (Hansard, 27 November 1975)

§ Mr. Ovenden
asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is her estimate of the cost of providing free school meals for the children of parents in receipt of invalidity benefit.

§ Mr. O'Malley
The additional net annual cost of remitting the charges for school meals for the children of parents in receipt of invalidity benefit is estimated at £2¼ million. This figure is based on the number of such children at 1st June 1974, the latest date available.
An allowance has been made for those in families receiving supplementary benefit, but the numbers already receiving free school meals by direct claim or through the receipt of family income supplement are not known. It has been assumed that the weekly cost of meals is 75p, that the school year consists of 40 weeks and that take-up is 80 per cent. An allowance of 10 per cent. has been made to cover children absent from school on the day the survey was taken.

§ Mr. Ovenden
asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the cost of providing free school meals for the children of families in receipt of family income supplement.

§ Mr. O'Malley
The annual cost of remitting charges for school meals for children of families in receipt of family income supplement is estimated at £2 million approximately. This figure is based on the average number of children of families in receipt of family income supplement during the financial year 1974–75, the figure being 107,000. The other assumptions are those made in my answer today to my hon. Friend's previous Question.

Mr. Overton
asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the cost of providing free school meals for the 278W children of families in receipt of supplementary beenfit.

§ Mr. O'Malley
The annual cost of remitting the charges for school meals for the children of families in receipt of supplementary benefit is £13 million. This figure is based on the latest figure—November 1974—for children of school age in these families. Because of fluctuations in the number of such families the figure is approximate only. The assumptions are the same as in my answers today to my hon. Friend's other Questions on this subject.