Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of school milk consumption on children’s oral health, including rates of dental decay.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Water and milk are the only recommended drinks to give children regarding their oral health. Milk and dairy foods, or dairy alternatives, are an important part of a healthy balanced diet, as depicted by the United Kingdom’s national food model, the Eatwell Guide. The School Food Standards state that lower fat milk and lactose-reduced milk must be available every school day, during school hours. Whole milk may be provided for pupils up to the end of the school year in which they turn five years old. Sugars naturally present in unsweetened milk and milk products are not classed as ‘free sugars’, which should be limited to reduce the risk of tooth decay. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/food-types/how-does-sugar-in-our-diet-affect-our-health/
We have invested £11 million in 147 local authorities in 2025/26, alongside a five-year partnership with Colgate-Palmolive, to rollout a national supervised toothbrushing programme for up to 600,000 three- to five-year-olds in the 20% most deprived areas of England. The programme will tackle poor oral health by ensuring children learn positive habits and prevention of tooth decay.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when representatives from her Department last met with milk producers to discuss farmgate milk prices.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra officials regularly engage with stakeholders from across the UK dairy industry on a wide range of issues including farmgate milk prices. Engagement is undertaken in various forms including through ad hoc and regular meetings with industry bodies and individual dairy businesses and milk producers, farm visits and attendance at industry events.
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Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on the average cost of producing a pint of milk in each of the last five years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The average cost of production for milk is shown below. Data is from the Farm Business Survey which covers farm businesses in England with a Standard Output of more than £21,000. Whilst it captures the majority of agricultural activity, it excludes smaller businesses (which account for 2% of output).
Production costs include all financial aspects of dairy enterprises such as unpaid labour, herd depreciation and an estimated rental equivalent for owned land. An allowance is also made for non-milk revenue (mostly the sale of dairy calves), which is applied as a reduction to cost. This reflects the value of by-products from milk production. The production costs therefore represent the price that would have to be paid on all milk produced for dairy enterprises to break even. The data includes organic production which is likely to incur higher production costs.
Average cost of milk production (pence per litre) 2020/21 to 2024/25
2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
28.3 | 36.4 | 48.6 | 44.2 | 44.9 |
Source: Farm Accounts in England
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the average farmgate milk price was in each of the last five years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra publishes monthly and annual milk prices on GOV.UK (Latest UK milk prices and composition of milk - GOV.UK). UK annual farmgate milk prices for the last five years are shown in the table below.
Table: UK annual farmgate milk prices 2021-2025, pence per litre (ppl)
Year | Price (ppl) |
2021 | 31.07 |
2022 | 43.98 |
2023 | 39.50 |
2024 | 41.17 |
2025 | 44.05 |