§ Baroness Faithfullasked Her Majesty's Government:
Why there is a lack of standard procedures throughout the country on the sending out of milk and vitamin tokens to families entitled to such tokens, in view of the fact that Health Visitors report that this uneven service is adversely affecting the health of children and pregnant women.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Security (Lord Glenarthur)There are standard instruction codes which detail the procedures for the issue of welfare milk and vitamin tokens. I have no reason to believe that the majority of claimants do not receive the correct entitlement. Nevertheless, I accept that there have been errors in some cases, and ways of simplifying and improving the existing procedures are being studied. Meanwhile, last month local office managers were asked to ensure that these benefits are properly issued in every appropriate case.