Free meal plan for Scots pupils

All pupils will receive free meals in the first three years of primary school, the Scottish Government has announced.

The move follows a year-long £5m pilot scheme in Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire, East Ayrshire, Fife and the Borders.

That scheme, which involved 35,000 pupils, saw the take-up of school meals rise from 53% to 75%.

However, the government will not be allocating extra money to fund the roll-out of the initiative.

It expects councils to find the money from the funding settlement already agreed.

The government said the free school meals would be introduced from August 2010.

The pilot scheme was carried out to see if providing a nutritious lunch for all children could improve their diets.


Putting the 'fun' into school meals

At the beginning of the trial, Children's Minister Adam Ingram said he hoped the youngsters would develop a taste for healthier foods and good lifestyle habits.

The Scottish Government has also promised to offer free meals to all primary and secondary school pupils with parents or carers in the lowest income brackets.

Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: "The pilot was a success with pupils, parents and schools and I have therefore introduced an order to the Scottish Parliament today which will allow all local authorities to provide free school meals for P1 to P3 pupils.

"This government has made it a priority to help children in their early years and this initiative does just that, providing every child with a free school meal in their first years at primary school."

Research into the pilot found that as well as an increased uptake, parents, teachers and others were positive about the scheme, while some pupils taking part in the trial were trying and enjoying new foods.

Parliament plea

The Scottish Government recently published new guidance to help school catering staff across Scotland produce healthy school meals.

In August, all primary schools implemented new nutritional guidelines for the food and drink served and sold on site. Secondary schools will be following suit next August.

John Dickie, head of the Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland, who is a member of the Free School Meals Campaign, said: "This is a massive step forward in the campaign to ensure every child, whatever their home circumstances, gets a healthy meal at school.

"We in the Scottish Free School Meals Campaign urge parliament to support the roll-out of this excellent initiative to all Primary 1 to 3 pupils.

"It will help boost children's health, education and wellbeing and provide a really welcome benefit to hard pressed families across Scotland."
source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7646898.stm

02/10/2008



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