Sturgeon hails free school meals for Scot tots

5 Jan 15
Younger primary schools pupils in Scotland’s schools are entitled to a free school lunch as of today, under a Scottish Government scheme that ministers say will remove the stigma of subsidised meals, and deliver better nutrition, health and academic achievement.

By Keith Aitken in Edinburgh | 5 January 2015

Younger primary schools pupils in Scotland’s schools are entitled to a free school lunch as of today,under a Scottish Government scheme that ministers say will remove the stigma of subsidised meals, and deliver better nutrition, health and academic achievement.

Launching the programme at her own former school – Dreghorn Primary in Ayrshire – First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: ‘This is an exciting and historic day for Scottish education. 

‘School lunches are hugely important in supporting a pupil’s ability to learn. We know from recent studies that free school meals improve nutrition and health among pupils, which can only help improve attainment in schools.’

The initiative, which follows similar moves in England, is not without its controversial aspects, however. The Scottish National Party’s commitment to universal benefits – such as free prescriptions, university tuition and over-60s bus travel – has been criticised by both the Labour and Tory parties as wasteful of tight public resources.

Councils will also be looking closely to see whether they end up bearing some of the cost of the scheme. The Scottish Government has allocated £70.5m for revenue costs, plus nearly £25m for capital spend on new catering facilities. At the same time, the money is not ring-fenced, which may tempt some hard-pressed local authorities to cut corners and redirect funds to other ends.

Ministers claim that the provision, covering 135,000 children in years Primary 1-3, will save an average family upwards of £330 a year, although uptake is hard to project.

Meanwhile, the biggest Scottish teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland, accused Sturgeon’s government of covertly dumping promises to cut class sizes and shore up teacher numbers.

In a letter to Scottish Finance Minister John Swinney, EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan claimed that Swinney’s autumn Budget did not include provision for continuing to fund the pledges. It follows figures published by the Herald newspaper, which suggested that nearly half of Scotland’s education authorities had cut teacher numbers in the last financial year.

The pledge to maintain teacher numbers was made jointly under the spending concordat reached between the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. This provides for sanctions against councils that fail to meet their teacher payroll targets, although no sanctions are, as yet, understood to have been imposed and talks are under way between ministers and COSLA.

 

 

Spacer

CIPFA logo

PF Jobsite logo

Did you enjoy this article?

AddToAny

Top