The Government’s consultation on the “Next Steps for Nursery Milk” is currently under way. We have received a large number of responses from a range of organisations including child care settings, specialist milk suppliers, and milk industry.

Due to the summer break, we have been asked to provide extra time to schools and nurseries to respond to the consultation. The Government are therefore extending the consultation period for an extra six weeks, to ensure that anyone who wants to contribute can do so. The new closing date of the consultation is Tuesday 23 October 2012.

The Government are committed to continuing the nursery milk scheme. Through this consultation, we are exploring three different options for improving the operation of the scheme.

We will publish a formal response to the consultation on the future operation of the nursery milk scheme taking full account of all the consultation responses.

“Next Steps for Nursery Milk” has already been placed in the Library.