Council cash will mean free school meals

Oct 6 2008 by Alison Rennie, Paisley Daily Express

CHILDREN will get free school meals for the first three years of their education...as long as the council coughs up the cash.

The Scottish Government is changing legislation to allow pupils to be given a healthy lunch every day.

But it is not providing any extra funding so if each council is to implement the scheme from 2010, they must find the money from their existing budget.

Renfrewshire Council Leader Derek Mackay, said: “We welcome the commitment to improving children’s health which is displayed in this new initiative.

“Obviously we’ll be looking at the detail but we welcome the overall approach on such an important issue.”

An 18-month pilot scheme which involved 35,000 children in five local authorities across Scotland found the uptake of free school meals rose from 53 per cent to 75 per cent.

And within the target group of P1-P3 pupils not registered for free school meals, uptake increased from 41 per cent to 69 per cent.

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