§ Mr. Peter Bottomleyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will estimate the cost of providing free school meals to the children of unemployed heads of households for each year since 1970.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonInformation is not collected in this form because parental unemployment as such is not a qualification for free school meals. Receipt of supplementary benefit, however, provides an automatic entitlement, and some indication of the cost arising on this account may be derived from the results of a survey of a sample of local education authorities in 1974. This showed306W implications, will be taken into account by my right hon. Friend before she makes up her mind about them.