The Scottish government has announced that it will carry out a review of nutritional standards in schools. During yesterday’s International School Meals Day, education secretary John Swinney said that while Scotland had some of the strictest nutritional regulations in Europe, it was time to review whether they could be further improved. The report is due in the summer.
Opposition parties have accused the Scottish government of “stalling” and kicking educational reform “into the long grass”. The accusations from opposition MSPs came after John Swinney revealed that the government’s education bill, promised early this year, would instead be published “sometime during 2017”. Mr Swinney said he needed time to “chew over” 1,100 responses to the government’s review of school governance, which will feed into the bill. Plans for a national funding formula for schools, promised this month, have also been delayed.
Councillors elected this May face “major challenges” in education and need to improve long-term planning, according to the Accounts Commission. In its 2017 overview, the local government watchdog highlights a long-term decline in Scottish government real-terms funding, which provides around 60 per cent of council income. The report says that, overall, councils have maintained or improved their performance despite increasing pressure on services, but challenges include a growing number of children (aged 0-15) over the next two decades.
