§ Mr. Raceasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list in theOfficial Report those local education authorities in England which, in the autumn of 1981, provided free school meals(a) only for children from families in receipt of supplementary benefit or family income supplement,(b) for children who qualify under the former income eligibility limits and(c) for children who fall in between these two tests.
§ Mr. William SheltonInformation currently available in the Department is not sufficiently detailed to enable the question to be answered exactly in the form in which it was asked. Based on informal inquiries, it appears that authorities are awarding free school meals as follows.
(a)Authorities whose basic policy is to provide free meals only for pupils whose parents receive supplementary benefit or family income supplement (the minimum statutory requirement) 422W
- Berkshire
- Bromley
- Buckinghamshire
- Bury
- Cheshire (secondary school pupils only)
- Cornwall
- Croydon
- Devon Dorset Essex Gloucestershire
- Hampshire
- Hereford and Worcester
- Isle of Wight
- Kent
- Lincolnshire
- Merton
- Norfolk
- Northumberland
- Redbridge
- Rotherham
- Shropshire.
- Sefton
- Solihull
- Staffordshire
- Suffolk
- Surrey
- Sutton
- Trafford
- Warwickshire
- West Sussex
- Wiltshire
A few of these authorities consider individual cases of hardship.
(b) Authorities whose free meals policies go beyond the statutory minimum.
- Avon.
- Barking
- Barnet
- Barnsley.
- Bedfordshire
- Bexley
- Birmingham
- Bolton
- Bradford
- Brent
- Calderdale
- Cambridgeshire
- Cheshire (primary only)
- Cleveland
- Coventry
- Cumbria
- Derbyshire
- Doncaster
- Dudley
- Durham
- Ealing
- East Sussex
- Enfield
- Gateshead
- Haringey
- Harrow
- Havering
423 - Hertfordshire
- Hillingdon
- Hounslow
- Humberside
- ILEA
- Kingston
- Kirklees
- Knowsley
- Lancashire
- Leeds
- Leicestershire
- Liverpool
- Manchester
- Newcastle
- Newham
- Northamptonshire
- North Tyneside
- North Yorkshire
- Nottinghamshire
- Oldham
- Oxfordshire
- Richmond
- Rochdale
- St. Helens
- Salford
- Sandwell
- Sheffield
- Somerset
- South Tyneside
- Stockport
- Sunderland
- Tameside
- Wakefield
- Walsall
- Waltham Forest
- Wigan
- Wirral
- Wolverhampton