Question
asked Her Majesty's Government:Why the Milk and Milk Products (Pupils in Educational Establishments) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/3429) apply Council Regulation (EC) No. 1255/1999 on the common organisation of the market in milk and milk products rather than Council Regulation (EC) No. 2597/97 on the common organisation of the market in milk and milk products for drinking milk, as per the Drinking Milk (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/3428).
Answer
Council Regulation (EC) No. 2597/1997 (as amended) applies to the subject of drinking milk in general. Council Regulation (EC) No. 1255/1999 and Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2707/2000 made under it (both as amended), specifically deal with a sub-set of drinking milk—that is, milk provided to children in educational establishments—and the system to support this. As European legislation has made a distinction between drinking milk in general, and milk for schoolchildren specifically, each of the two topics is dealt with by a separate strand of domestic legislation. The Drinking Milk Regulations 1998 (Statutory Instrument (SI) 1998/2424) relate to Council Regulation EC (No.) 2597/1997, that is to drinking milk in general. It is this SI to which subsequent SI 2007/3428 makes amendments on this general topic. The Milk and Milk Products (Pupils in Educational Establishments) (England) Regulations 2001 (SI 2001/994) relate to Council Regulation 1255/1999 and to Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2707/2000, that is to milk for schoolchildren specifically, and in particular, the payment of the national top-up. It is this SI to which subsequent SI 2007/3429 makes amendments on this specific subject.