He encourages even more schools to take up free school milk.Mr. Philip Dunne (Ludlow) (Con): May I emphasise the importance of dairy farming? Prices are a matter of supply and demand, and if free school milk were withdrawn, it would be unlikely that that demand would be replaced by a demand for milk by parents and households. The element of demand would go from the marketplace, which would inevitably depress prices further. That would have a deleterious effect on the farming industry and many more farmers would thus leave it.
The importance of the debate resonates outside the House. Recently, the intervention of one of my hon. Friends had an impact on a major high street retailer. It was stocking chocolate oranges at the counter, but is now stocking apples and real oranges as a result of the intervention. I am impressed that the hon. Member for Chorley (Mr. Hoyle) has secured the debate and I hope that it will encourage even more schools to take up free school milk.
Mr. Hoyle: I am not quite sure who has all the chocolate oranges at Smith's any more, but that is another matter. The hon. Gentleman is quite right about the future of farming. We have a great chance to help farmers in the UK by ensuring that there is a market that we can expand as more children benefit from the nutritional value of milk.
