asked the President of the Board of Education how many necessitous children received meals in elementary schools; how many meals were served in 1923; and what was the cost per meal?

The latest period for which my right hon. Friend has complete figures is the year ending 31st March, 1923. During that year 149,676 children received school meals under the provisions of the Education Act, 1921; of these, 127,636 received free meals. The total number of meals provided was 17,171,298, of which 14,991,798 were provided free. The average total cost per meal was 3.6d. During the calendar year 1913, 11,463,487 meals were provided, of which 9,357,5:57 were provided free.