School meal uptake in Scotland falls

24th June 2009, 10:29am

The number of children eating school meals in Scotland has dropped, according to new figures released by the Scottish Government.

Of those pupils present on the survey day, just over 45% took a meal supplied by the school, compared to just over 47% in 2008.

The Scottish Government said the fall in uptake could be a result of inflated figures after the trial of free school meals in five local authorities saw uptake increase during 2008 through to early 2009.

The percentage of pupils registered for free school meals was 15.2%, marginally down from 15.4% in 2008.

A further 5,154 pupils were identified by 24 local authorities as being entitled to free school meals, though the report shows that local authorities continue to vary widely in their ability to identify pupils who are entitled but have not registered their entitlement.

Of those registered for free school meals 82.2% took a free school meal on the survey day, down from 82.7% in 2008.

56% of primary schools had an anonymous system for free school meals receipt, up from 51% in 2008. Around 90% of secondary schools had such systems, up from 82% in 2008.

All local authority primary schools participate in the Free Fruit in Schools scheme and provide free fresh fruit to P1 and P2 pupils.

The report highlighted a drop in the number of schools offering free drinking water to pupils, down 4% on 2008.

Over 35% of all schools provided a breakfast club service to pupils, down from 38% in 2008. Findings showed that the provision of breakfast clubs was more common in those schools with higher rates of deprivation.

Overall in 2007-08, local authorities spent £129 million preparing 54.2 million meals, compared to £119 million preparing 53.5 million meals in 2006-07.

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