EDUCATION chiefs have made sure that the majority of young children in Bolton are drinking milk at school every day.

The Local Education Authority was ranked sixth best in the country for making sure that children aged between five and 11 enjoyed a daily glass of milk.

The survey, which was carried out by the Dairy Council, found that some LEAs are not offering reduced price milk to primary school children at all.

But in Bolton, 18,768 pupils from a total of 21,749 -- 86 per cent -- drink milk every day, at a cost to their parents of about £7 per term.

The Dairy Council believes thousands of children are missing out on school milk because LEAs wrongly perceive that there is too much paperwork linked with the EU subsidised milk scheme.

Public health practitioner for Bolton, Brenda Griffiths, said: "This figure is representative of the work that has been done by the health and education teams in the town to address children's health problems.

"It is part of the Healthy Schools Initiative to try to create a healthy environment.

"But there won't be a 100 per cent record until the reasons why some children are not drinking milk are looked at. It is difficult to know why there are still children slipping through the net."

Nutritionist Dr Michelle McKinley, from the Dairy Council, said: "Milk provides a whole host of vitamins and minerals that are essential for growing children. If local authorities were to invest in school milk, the teeth and bones of the next generation would be greatly helped."