asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will give the figure of school children in receipt of free school meals for the latest month for which figures are available and give the comparative figure for the same month in 1979.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson) on Tuesday 11 June, at column 426. The figures requested are collected annually in October in the school meals census.