Urgent call for free school meals for all pupils

Most primary school pupils in Scotland are offered free school meals – but it looks like older children will have to wait

24th December 2021, 12:01am

Henry Hepburn

Urgent call to give free school meals to all primary pupils

Free school meals should be extended to all pupils as an “urgent priority” to help tackle poverty, the EIS teaching union has said.

The EIS made the call after a previous Scottish government commitment to provide free school meals to all primary pupils was delayed.

The union said today that offering free meals to all pupils - including those at secondary school - would be a “lifeline” for many families, and that many parents are regularly going without food so that their children can eat.

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All P1-4 pupils are already entitled to free school meals, and P5 children will become eligible in January, but a previous commitment to bring P6-7s into the scheme has been delayed, it emerged this month.

Free school meals extension delayed

Deputy first minister John Swinney said in November 2020, when he was education secretary, that the SNP would make free school meals available to all primary school pupils by August 2022 if his party retained power at May’s Scottish Parliament election.

In March this year, Tes Scotland reported the confirmation that Scotland was poised to become the first UK nation to offer free school meals to all primary children, by August 2022.

But the Budget document published earlier this month showed that funding had only been made available to extend the free school meals programme to pupils in P4 and P5.

Pupils in P6 and P7 will have to wait until “later in the parliamentary term”, which has another four-and-a-half years to run.

The EIS has written to education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville calling on her to “safeguard families from the worst ravages of poverty” and take steps to expand universal school meal provision to all school-aged children and young people without delay.

EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said: “The EIS welcomes the expansion of free school meals to all Primary 4 children at the beginning of this academic session and the imminent expansion to Primary 5s, but is clear that provision needs to be extended and accelerated to be inclusive of all young people at all stages of school in Scotland, as an urgent priority.”

He added: “As the cost of living rises and the economic shocks of the pandemic continue to be felt, thousands of parents - women who are single mothers, especially - are going regularly without food in order that their children can eat, both at home and in school.”

Mr Flanagan also highlighted problems with the current mean-tested model of free school meal provision for pupils above P5.

He said that many families are unaware of their entitlements to free school meals and are therefore missing out, while others miss out because they fall just below the threshold of entitlement, and others do not want to face the stigma of collecting a free school meal.

Mr Flanagan said: “Crucially, many older children - the group who are entirely excluded from the current provision - those who are entitled to free meals, experience real stigma in going to collect one, so miss out rather than suffer the shame.”

The EIS letter states: “Expansion of the current provision would alleviate hunger by enabling all children and young people in our schools and nurseries to have at least one meal a day that does not have to be paid for out of meagre family budgets or supplied from sparsely stocked food cupboards.

“This is essential to enabling all young people, regardless of age and stage, to participate, concentrate, and to learn and achieve.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “We have provided funding to support the expansion of free school lunches to Primary 4 and 5. Ministers are committed to funding the expansion of free school meals to all pupils in primary and special schools during this Parliament.

“Our Budget plans for 2022-23 will provide £30 million capital allocation for investment in school kitchen and dining areas to prepare for this further expansion and we will continue to work with local government partners on planning over the next academic year.

“This is to ensure that the expansion can be delivered equitably across all schools in all areas whilst maintaining high-quality meal provision for pupils.”

The government said this was on top of “£42.2 million to maintain universal provision for Primary 4 and 5 pupils and £21.75 million to continue provision of free school lunches to entitled pupils during school holidays”.

The spokesperson added: “We will also work with partners on a phased approach to delivery of a universal milk scheme in primary schools aligned to the expansion of free school meals.”