Doctor urges schools to use free milk programmes

A leading doctor has called for schools to take full advantage of free milk programmes after new research revealed the “shockingly low” number of portions of the drink UK nations are providing to schoolchildren.

Analysis by the School and Nursery Milk Alliance (SNMA) shows that, on average, Wales is top for providing milk to children aged five to11.

Wales provides 65 portions of milk for each primary school-age child, on average, a year, while England lags behind with an average of 19 portions.

Scotland provides 42 portions, and Northern Ireland 31 portions.

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World School Milk Day

The findings come on World School Milk Day (29 September), which celebrates the benefits of milk for schoolchildren.

Dr Hilary Jones blasted the “shockingly low” take up of programmes available for children in schools and nurseries to access free milk.

“Regularly drinking milk could improve health outcomes for children and yet millions are missing out through a simple lack of awareness,” said Dr Jones.

“World School Milk Day 2021 is the perfect opportunity for the government to make sure that UK schools and nurseries are aware of the different schemes that exist, and encourage them to take the next step and sign up so that millions of schoolchildren across the country are able to drink free, healthy milk.”

School food standards require lower fat milk or lactose reduced milk to be available to drink at least once a day during school hours.

To assist with the cost, schools can take part in the Nursery Milk Scheme, led by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), providing free milk to children under the age of five.

Defra’s School Milk Subsidy Scheme also provides subsidised milk for all children aged five to 11 attending Ofsted-registered schools in England Scotland and Wales.

Praise

Vale of Glamorgan dairy farmer Abi Reader praised Wales for leading the way, but said she would like to see the figures increase across the UK.

“This is really positive news for Welsh dairy farmers and Welsh schoolchildren,” she told Farmers Weekly.

“We’ve known for a long time what the benefits are of children drinking milk from a young age for healthy teeth, bones and heart.

“As a dairy industry, we definitely want to see more portions per child. Wales is in a great place and we should aspire to do even more.”

The SNMA analysis showed that, for nursery-age children, Scotland leads the way among the UK nations with an average of 90 portions of milk provided for every child.

Wales follows with 74 portions, then England (69) and Northern Ireland (30).

The school milk data for England, Scotland and Wales comes from the Rural Payments Agency and is taken from March 2019 to February 2020.

The numbers from Northern Ireland were supplied by Deara and are from January 2019 to December 2019.

The nursey milk data for England, Scotland and Wales was supplied by DHSC and is taken from March 2019 to February 2020.

The data for Northern Ireland is taken from April 2019 to March 2020.