Free meals 'not aiding poor pupils'

from The Press Association

Giving all pupils free school meals may not be the most effective way to help the poorest children, MSPs have been told.

The Scottish Government has already announced a pilot project to look at the benefits of free school meals.

But the £5 million trial will only involve pupils in the first three years of primary school.


And children's campaigners are concerned that many older youngsters from poorer families will still miss out.

Tam Baillie, of Barnardo's Scotland, said: "One of the main issues we have to address is we have got 25% of children living in poverty in Scotland, but only 19% qualify for free school meals.

"That's a gap that has to be addressed and that will remain outstanding regardless of what happens with the free school meals pilot."

The six-month long pilot, which runs from October to March, will see more than 35,000 children in primaries one to three in the Borders, East Ayrshire, Fife, Glasgow, and West Dunbartonshire receiving free lunches.

Government officials told MSPs on the Scottish Parliament's Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee it would cost some £30 to £46 million a year if the initiative was expanded into all schools in Scotland.

But Paula Evans, of the charity Children in Scotland, told MSPs that if the aim of the scheme was to address child poverty, it may be best to focus resources on those most in need.

When asked if providing free school meals for all would be the best use of resources she said: "It depends on policy objectives, if it's a health promotion objective then a universal approach for primary one to primary three is appropriate. If it's purely a poverty alleviating measure, then a targeted approach might be more appropriate."