§ Mr. Ron Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will estimate the number of (a) families and (b) children who will be affected by the Government's proposed changes in eligibility for school meals under section 70 of the Social Security Bill;
(2) how many (a) families and (b) children he estimates will be affected by the Government's proposed changes in eligibility for school lunches contained in clause 70 of the Social Security Bill in (i) Wales and (ii) mid-Glamorgan.
§ Mr. Newton[pursuant to his reply, 14 July 1986, c. 419]: The proposed changes in entitlement to free school meals entail additional expenditure overall, rather than savings. We anticipate that on the basis of the illustrative assumptions in the technical annex to the White Paper "Reform of Social Security" (Cmnd. 9691), the cash compensation contained in the family credit children's rates in place of free school meals will exceed the savings to local education authorities in no longer providing free school meals to children in FIS families and to those helped under the present local education authorities' discretionary powers. It is not possible to estimate the effect on local authority manpower since this will depend on local factors, including comparative meal numbers and local manpower policies.
§ Mr. Ron Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will estimate the savings which will accrue to both central Government and local government in manpower and cash, respectively, as a result of the Government's proposed changes in eligibility for school meals under section 70 of the Social Security Bill;
(2) if he will estimate the savings in manpower and cash which will accrue from the Government's proposed changes in eligibility for school lunches contained in clause 70 of the Social Security Bill for (a) central Government and (b) local government in Wales.
§ Mr. Newton[pursuant to his reply, 14 July 1986, c. 419]: The estimates are as follows: