Children across Scotland to get free school meals

The concordat deal with local councils had agreed if the scheme was a success, legislation would be brought in to make sure all youngsters in primary one to three are entitled to free school meals from August 2010.

During the pilot the number of youngsters in primaries one to three who ate school lunches went from 53% to 75%.

And Ms Hyslop said it had been "a success with pupils, parents and schools".

She added: "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."

Ms Hyslop said: "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."

The move was welcomed by campaigners from the Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland.

John Dickie, the head of the group, was also a leading member of the Free School Meals campaign, and he 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 one to three pupils.

"It will help boost children's health, education and wellbeing and provide a really welcome benefit to hard pressed families across Scotland."

Schools in the Borders, East Ayrshire, Fife, Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire council areas took part in the pilot free school meals scheme, which ran from October last year to June this year.

And the number of children eating school meals increased in all five areas.

As well as the rise in primary one to three pupils eating school lunches, uptake increased among all primary school children, going from 50% to 60%.

The research showed that the main reason for not eating school meals was some children are "fussy eaters".

There was evidence that children were trying new foods as part of their school lunches, and that some were asking for different foods at home, including healthier options.

However it was unclear how many children were doing this and the extent to which they were eating more healthily at home.

Ms Hyslop met youngsters at schools in Dunfermline who took part in the pilot when she visited the Oakley joint campus - which houses both Holy Name Primary School and Inzievar Primary School.

And she said the government was "committed to tackling obesity and unhealthy eating habits at a young age" and was working with the local government body Cosla to help deliver changes.

New nutritional guidelines covering the food and drink served to youngsters in primary schools came into effect in August, while guidance to help school catering staff produce health meals was published last month.

The education secretary said: "We are encouraging all Scots to develop healthy eating habits that will benefit them for the rest of their lives and help tackle the serious problem of obesity.

"The pilot gave pupils an opportunity to try new healthy foods with some asking at home for foods they had tried at school. Parents also reported talking about food with their children more often and some said their children were more confident in discussing their food preferences.

"Now every child in those vitally important early years will have the opportunity to enjoy these same experiences. Parents too will feel the benefit during these financially difficult times."

But Labour education spokeswoman Rhona Brankin branded the move a stunt, and said the government was asking councils to provide free school meals without providing the funding for it.

Labour claimed the cost of giving all primary one to three youngsters free school meals could be up to £50 million a year.

Ms Brankin hit out: "The SNP are shirking their responsibility as a government. Fiona Hyslop is demanding councils deliver free school meals without providing the money to pay for them."

The Labour MSP added: "Local authorities are already struggling to employ newly qualified teachers and reduce class sizes, but some schools can't even afford photo copying.

"This is yet another example of SNP ministers making promises that they expect other people to deliver. Fiona Hyslop is shirking her responsibilities and passing the buck to local councillors."

And North Lanarkshire Council education convener Jim Logue said they "simply won't be able to pay the estimated £1 million cost of free school meals without making cuts to other education services".

He called on the government to meet the full cost of providing free school meals for primary one to three pupils and said: "It's simply not good enough to put the burden on local government."

Tory children's spokeswoman Liz Smith also expressed concerns about the move.

She said: "The stark evidence is that far too many pupils in Scotland miss out on being able to access regular and healthy school meals, so any measures we can take to improve their chances is to be warmly welcomed.

"The pilot scheme in five councils across Scotland found that uptake within the target group of P1 - P3 children who were not previously registered for free school meals rose from 41% to 69%.

"What the government has announced today might go some way to addressing this issue, but I remain concerned on two specific fronts - firstly, whether the new legislation will be able to target the right pupils and whether councils will be able to implement the policy when there is no new money and at a time when they are under intense financial pressure on other issues such as class sizes, the new curriculum and the school estate."

And while the trade union Unison welcomed the move, it too expressed concerns about where the cash would come from.

Dave Watson, the union's Scottish organiser, said: "Unison has long argued on health and poverty grounds that we should be providing free school meals for all children.

"We are pleased that the Scottish Government now wants to extend the pilots nationally.

"However, we have serious concerns about the pressures on local government finance and the announcement seems to make no mention of the extra costs involved.

"If the Scottish Government is serious about children's health and wellbeing, it must put its money where its mouth is. Otherwise the success of the rollout seems at serious risk."

Mr Watson also warned that in cases where schools were built and run under PFI contracts, the introduction of free school meals for primary one to three may mean costly contract renegotiations.

He said: "Contracts with private companies will have been based on the take up of school meals under the old system.

"If free meals lead to the major increase in take up that these pilots have indicated, will the contracts allow for this, and will there be the staff and space to cope? There may be some expensive contract renegotiation ahead."

Councils gave public backing to the plan.

Isabel Hutton, of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, said: "Cosla has worked closely with the Scottish Government and we have also been kept informed of progress with the pilots by the councils involved.

"We are pleased that the pilots have proved so successful and we are happy to support the introduction of the legislation to roll out the provision of free school meals to P1-P3 pupils in line with the timetable in the concordat."

She said the move was an agreed commitment in the concordat and funding was included in the overall local government settlement.

Lib Dem education spokeswoman Margaret Smith said: "Liberal Democrats do not believe that the government has properly set out the outcomes they expect this initiative to deliver.

"Ministers have failed to make the case that this is the best way to tackle the problem of poor diet amongst many Scottish children."

A spokesman for the First Minister said councils were signed up to deliver the meals in line with an agreement by Cosla.

Asked what would happen to a council failing to deliver the meals, the spokesman said: "We're not prepared to make that assumption."

And he said indicative costs showed a 70% uptake of meals would cost around £30 million.

"The cost per meal can very depending on what exactly each local authority does deliver," he added.