Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to extend the Nursery Milk Scheme entitlement to the end of the academic year in which a child turns five.

The Nursery Milk Scheme is a statutory scheme which allows early years childcare settings to reclaim the cost of providing one-third of a pint of milk per day to children under the age of five who attend a setting for two or more hours per day. Schools can claim reimbursement from the scheme in respect of their pupils aged under five years old.

There are no plans to extend eligibility for the Nursery Milk Scheme to cover children until the end of the academic year, during which they reach their fifth birthday. Separate legislation allows pupils from lower-income families, and who are eligible for free school meals, to continue to receive free milk at school after the age of five years old.