§ Ms. Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the number of awards of free milk and vitamins which were made in 1985 to (a) pregnant women, (b) nursing mothers and (c) children under school age, showing for each group whether the grounds for the award were in receipt of supplementary benefit, family income supplement or low income; and if he will publish his estimate of the numbers of awards expected to be made to each group after changes in the Social Security Act to be introduced in April 1988.
§ Mr. MajorThe table gives the information requested for pregnant women and for children under school age in Great Britain at December 1984, the latest date for which figures are available.
Thousands Supplementary benefit Low incomes FIS Pregnant women 40 10 10 Children under school age 720 70 130 Total 760 80 140 Rounded to nearest 10,000. From April 1988, the low income scheme for welfare foods will end. Families receiving family credit, expected to be significantly higher than those receiving FIS, will not be entitled to free milk but the children's rates will be set at a higher level to give extra cash help instead. We do not expect significant variation in the numbers in these categories who will become entitled to income support.
Nursing mothers are entitled to vitamins and their babies are entitled to free milk; the latter are included in the figure given in the above table for "children under school age". We estimate that about 3,000 nursing mothers, other than those whose vitamin tokens are issued when they are pregnant and which carry on after the baby is born, receive their vitamins at present. After April 1988, vitamins will be available free through health clinics.