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April 13

Purported School Milk Act 1946

According to Wikipedia and other unreliable sources on the internet there was a "School Milk Act 1946" providing free school milk "in schools to all children under the age of 18". I can find no trace of this purported Act in Hansard. I suspect it (free school milk) was done by Statutory Instrument or Departmental circular. Can anyone help clarify this? Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 19:48, 13 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I have found a few references to the "Provision of Free Milk Regulations, 1946", which may be the statutory instrument in question. It was "Given under the Official Seal of the Minister of Education this 27th day of July, 1946" according to this and was "MADE BY THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION UNDER SECTION 49 OF EDUCATION ACT , 1944 ( 7 & 8 Geo . 6. C. 31 )" says Statutory Rules and Orders Other Than Those of a Local, Personal Or Temporary Character, Volume 1 (p. 429), HMSO London, 1946. Alansplodge (talk) 21:30, 13 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

First clarification: we are talking about England.

The statement first appeared in Wikipedia in 2008 so any later source may have copied the information from Wikipedia.

Here is a web page that at least does not appear to have been copied from Wikipedia. It attributes the "Free School Milk Act" to Ellen Wilkinson and gives the date 1945 rather than 1946. On the other hand, Clement Attlee is misspelled in the same sentence, so I don't think this information can be considered reliable either.
Here is a 2014 newspaper article that refers to a Free School Milk Act with the date 1946. --184.147.181.129 (talk) 21:54, 13 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Here is a British Medical Journal item that refers to a "School Milk Act" of 1946. But that was written in 2011.
I searched at legislation.gov.uk for the word "milk" in all legislation in 1945, 1946, or 1947. There were only two hits. One was irrelevant and the other was the place in the Education Act 1946, where it specifies that buildings used only "for affording facilities for providing milk, meals or other refreshment for pupils" are not deemed to be part of the school buildings.
So I think Duncan is right to be suspicious and Alan's suggestion that it was a regulation and not an act is right. The next place I'd want to check is British newspapers from 1946 or thereabouts, but I only have online access to Toronto newspapers. --184.147.181.129 (talk) 21:54, 13 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Was the regulation really confined to England, or would it have applied to the whole UK? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 22:43, 13 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It would have been for England and Wales. I expect similar provisions would have been made for Scotland, but as Northern Ireland had home rule at the time under the Government of Ireland Act 1920 the UK govt would not have had a say there. DuncanHill (talk) 22:56, 13 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

At some point in my earlier searching I saw a reference to England and Wales (meaning "England, including Wales") but both the 1944 and the 1946 acts are "UK Public General Acts" according to legislation.gov.uk, ~~so I guess it was the whole UK~~. --184.147.181.129 (talk) 23:01, 13 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

No, the 1944 act applies only to England and Wales. Scottish education is always treated separately, and as I said, NI had home rule. DuncanHill (talk) 23:09, 13 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

And the Education Act 1946 provides "This Act shall not extend to Scotland or to Northern Ireland". DuncanHill (talk) 23:14, 13 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the corrections. --184.147.181.129 (talk) 03:31, 14 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The Education (Scotland) Act 1945 appears to be the analogue. Alansplodge (talk) 23:42, 13 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I think that was more of a consolidating act. See Education in Scotland in the twentieth century DuncanHill (talk) 23:51, 13 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks @Alansplodge: and 184.147.181.129 I think it's clear it was by regulation not Act. I found this report by the Medical Officer of Health for Ilford which says "As from 6th August, 1946, milk in schools has been supplied free of charge in accordance with the Provision of Free Milk Regulations, 1946", which seems clear enough. DuncanHill (talk) 15:21, 14 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict)This [1] says:

Section 49 of the 1944 (Butler) Education Act required LEAs to provide school milk as a statutory duty and in August 1946 charges to parents were abolished.

Ellen Wilkinson explained in parliament what the government was going to do [2]. 209.93.196.223 (talk) 15:33, 14 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]