Funding needed to pay for free school meals for P 1-3 pupils

The Highland Council estimates that the provision of free school meals to all Primary 1 -3 pupils from August 2010 will cost more than £2 million per year.

Leader of the Council’s Administration Councillor Michael Foxley said the 
announcement by the Scottish Government had come as a surprise, as no additional funding has been discussed with Councils so that they can introduce the new measure.

He said: “We now provide healthy meals in our schools. We welcome this announcement which will help our children and families, but we must have the additional funding to make this happen as the cost will be more than £2 million per annum. At a time of very real pressure on our budgets, we need to clarify the situation with COSLA and the Scottish Government as a matter of urgency.”

Councillor Bill Fernie, Chairman of the Education Culture and Sport Committee, said there is a 45% take up of school meals in the Primary 1-3 age group.   Based on the experience of the pilot programmes in other parts of Scotland, this rate would be expected to rise to 80%.

He added: “This is good news but it must be funded by the Scottish Government. As well as a loss of income from the sales of school meals, we are likely to face additional costs of extra staff and additional kitchen and dining space in dozens of schools.”

The cost to the Council of producing a school meal is £2.44.  The price of a school meal is currently £1.65. Currently 80% of pupils in Primary 1 -3 pay for their school meals, while 20% qualify for free meals.