Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to consult stakeholders on the development of a national strategy for implementation of the European School Milk Scheme.

The development of a national strategy to implement the existing, long-established EU School Milk Scheme is not expected to involve substantive changes of policy or of practice. On this basis, a formal consultation is not envisaged. However, Defra officials are engaging with a range of stakeholders in the interests of transparency and to set out our approach. The EU Commission has proposed a more substantial overhaul of the scheme which, if agreed, would take effect from 2016 onwards. The Department intends to consult on this wider process although no timescale has yet been established.