On World School Milk Day,
the NFU is urging the Government to make a commitment that school
children will still have access to a milk scheme post Brexit.
NFU dairy board chairman Michael Oakes, who’ll be attending a
school in Birmingham today, said it’s vital departments such as
Defra and the Department of Health help promote the importance of
children enjoying a nutritional glass of milk on a daily basis.
Mr Oakes and NFU Vice President Guy Smith will be visiting Percy
Shurmer Academy in Birmingham to talk to pupils about dairy
farming, milk production and the benefits of drinking milk.
First launched 17 years ago by the UN Food and Agriculture
Organisation, World School Milk
Day is a celebration of the health benefits of school
milk programmes around the world.
The NFU recognises the importance of school milk not only in
providing nutritious dairy products for our children but also for
helping to develop the consumption habits of the future.
Michael Oakes said: “Currently schools in England and Wales
can sign up to the EU School Milk Subsidy Scheme that offers milk
for schoolchildren of various ages. Following Brexit, it’s
extremely important that Government, both through Defra and the
Department of Health, continue with a domestic school milk
scheme. As important as simple, subsidised school milk is the
need for children to receive education about the nutritional
benefits of dairy products and an understanding of dairy farming,
“In a post-Brexit world we are calling on Defra to strive to
provide milk and education to the maximum number of children. For
instance in 2013/14, of the 9,826,000 children eligible to
participate in the EU School Milk Scheme, in the UK only
1,193,563 did. We urge Defra to better promote and encourage
uptake of current and future school milk schemes.”
Defra will consult on a new UK School Milk Scheme in the autumn.
To help inform lobbying efforts and to form part of our response
to the consultation, the NFU has created a postcard survey for
NFU members to hand out to their local schools. The postcard
prompts schools to consider providing milk for their pupils,
looks at current uptake and challenges of the EU scheme and
assesses demand for a future UK scheme.
We are asking schools to complete the survey and either post a
hard copy back to NFU HQ or fill in the survey
online here.
