FREE school milk could be in jeopardy, following a report to the Government which says it is a waste of public money and does little to improve children's health.

The national evaluation found it was cheaper to buy milk in the supermarket than through the combined Government and European Union subsidy programmes.

Hundreds of schools across the North-East and North Yorkshire take advantage of Government and European subsidies, to provide free or cheap milk to children.

Yesterday, education bosses said they would have to review provision if the Government reduced its subsidy to save £1.5m a year.

The study, by independent consultants London Economics, found the benefits to children's health of subsidised school milk were small and the subsidy programmes inefficient.

If subsidy programmes are cut, tens of thousands of children could be affected.

In Darlington, children at 19 nursery schools receive free milk while within Durham County Council's schools, almost 3,500 under-fives drink free milk at nursery school.

Yesterday, Councillor Neil Foster, Durham County Council's cabinet member for children's services, said: "If the Government did decide to withdraw this subsidy, we would have to review the service."

In Middlesbrough, 3,250 children at nursery schools drink subsidised milk and about 6,500 pupils of primary school age are given the option of milk with their school lunches.

In Stockton, a council spokesman said 3,500 children would be directly affected if the subsidy was cut.

"Should this funding cease, we will have to review our provision of free milk to all our nursery-aged pupils and examine ways of alternative funding," he said.

The combined EU and Government subsidies are worth between £8m and £9m a year to schools, but that is not enough to cover the cost, leaving some parents to pay, on average, 11.4p for a third of a pint of milk.

Many councils give nursery schools free milk and councils that take up the subsidies are also obliged to give free milk to primary children whose parents are on state benefits.

The report says: "We feel that large-scale school milk programmes do not represent a sensible use of public funds, but that justification exists for narrowly-targeted programmes."