§ Mr. Robert C. Brownasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what percentage of children in (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools within (i) the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, (ii) Tyne and Wear county and (iii) the Northern region (a) has free school meals, (b) pays for school meals and (c) brings packed lunches, at the earliest available date and at the end of May 1979.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneThe following information is derived from local education authority school meals census returns for October 1980 (the latest available) and May 1979:
October 1980 May 1979 Primary Secondary Primary Secondary Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Newcastle upon Tyne (a) Free meals 27.1 17.6 28.7 17.1 (b) Paid meals 45.7 32.8 50.4 32.9 (c) Packed lunches 11.8 8.6 N/A N/A Tyne and Wear (a) Free meals 20.1 13.7 21.6 13.1 (b) Paid meals 41.4 24.5 44.4 21.8 (c) Packed lunches 6.8 8.1 N/A N/A Northern region (a) Free meals 16.3 11.8 18.1 12.4 (b) Paid meals 50.8 36.6 59.0 37.1 (c) Packed lunches 9.8 10.8 N/A N/A Percentages are expressed as a proportion of the number of pupils present on the day of the censuses. Information about the numbers of pupils bringing packed lunches was not requested in May 1979, and is therefore not available.