At the risk of harking back to the halcyon days of the 1970s and 1980s, I remember the adverts, “Gotta lotta bottle” and “Nice cold, ice cold, milk”, which did a lot to promote milk consumption, not just within educational settings but in the wider community. I think I have given a strong message today about the Government’s support for the continuation of milk as a central tenet of a child’s dietary upbringing. Through the various schemes that we still support and also the new money that we have announced, there is an opportunity to help that to infiltrate even further into our education system.
However, we still have a lot of educating of parents to do. Last year a survey in Scotland showed that a third of parents still did not think it an issue if their child had tooth decay by the time they were a teenager. There are some perceptions and societal norms that we would not want to support, and there is work to do to bust them as we strive to improve the health of our nation. The Government want to help children to achieve a healthy, balanced diet and to encourage them to make the right food choices, and I want to reassure the hon. Lady that we will continue to encourage the consumption of dairy products, including milk.