Critics say SNP plan will only force councils to make more cutbacks elsewhere
By Rachelle Money

THE SNP's promise to provide free school meals appeared to be in tatters last night after some local councillors said they couldn't afford the scheme.

On Thursday, the Scottish education secretary, Fiona Hyslop, announced that all youngsters in primaries one to three were to receive free school meals. But Labour claimed councils were in "open revolt" over the move, because no new money is being provided for the programme, with funding included in the overall local government settlement instead.

Labour said that 12 of Scotland's 32 councils had now expressed concerns about how they would finance the scheme - which is going ahead following a £5 million pilot project that offered free meals to primary one, two and three pupils in five council areas.

The concordat with local authorities had agreed that, if the pilot was a success, legislation would be brought in to make sure all youngsters in primaries one to three were entitled to free school meals from August 2010.

During the pilot, the number of youngsters in primaries one to three who ate school lunches rose from 53% to 75%, and Hyslop hailed the scheme "a success with pupils, parents and schools".

However, Labour fear it could cost councils up to £50m a year to provide the free meals, and education spokeswoman Rhona Brankin hit out at Hyslop, claiming her "credibility is in tatters".

"She has provoked an open revolt from local government, who are being asked to foot the bill for free school meals," said Brankin. "I am demanding a guarantee that SNP ministers will not penalise councils who are unable to afford this."

One of the councils to have expressed concerns about the funding of the free school meals is the City of Edinburgh Council, where there is a ruling LibDem/SNP coalition.

LibDem Marilyne MacLaren, the council's education convener, said: "We will be looking in detail at the Scottish government's proposals to introduce free school meals for all P1, P2 and P3 pupils but we believe that the implementation of such a policy will be very difficult if insufficient additional money is available to fund it."

Mary Smith, chair of the education resources committee at South Lanarkshire Council, said: "Having to find the money to fund free school meals will put additional pressure on our education budget and make it more difficult for us to reduce class sizes and employ extra teachers."

Judith Gillespie, of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, said parents were already expressing concerns over budget cuts, and added: "Not all parents will welcome free schools meals. The primary four to six parents who aren't being offered free school meals will be annoyed that they will suffer from cuts elsewhere in their education."

Responding to Labour's attack, a spokesman for Hyslop said: "The money is already there with councils. Labour were in power for almost a decade and singularly failed to deliver a policy which will benefit 165,000 of our children.

"This is an outrageous attack on a fully-funded policy being delivered by the SNP. The only reason for this attack is because of Labour's embarrassment at their own failure to deliver."