East Ayrshire pupils now have to pay for school meals

Aug 29 2008 by Stef Lach, Kilmarnock Standard

THOUSANDS of schoolchildren who enjoyed free school meals for nine months are having to pay now that the healthy lunches trial has come to an end.

Primary one to three kids across East Ayrshire benefited from the hugely popular Scottish Government pilot scheme between October 2007 and June this year.

And even though the trial – which took place in five Scottish local authority areas – was a massive success, it has not yet been decided whether it will be rolled out as a permanent fixture across the country.

A report into the benefits is being carried out on behalf of the government, but even if the scheme is given the go-ahead, it won’t come into effect until 2010 at the earliest.

As children returned to school last week, campaigners called on Scottish Government ministers and East Ayrshire councillors to work together to continue the free school meals pilot, and to roll out the initiative as soon as possible.

John Dickie, head of the Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland and a leading member of the Free School Meals Campaign, said: “The Scottish Government’s free school meals pilot for primary one to three pupils has already led to many more children getting a healthy meal in the middle of the day.

“We urge ministers and councillors to find the money to continue the pilots and roll out free school meals as soon as possible. Families are already bearing the brunt of rocketing food and fuel prices and free school meals are proving a vital benefit.”

Marion Davis of One Parent Families Scotland, another leading supporter of the campaign added: “Free school meals make a vital contribution to boosting children’s health, concentration and readiness to learn as well as relieving the pressures on already hard pressed family budgets.

“The sooner children continue to benefit from what has been a brilliant pilot initiative the better.”

Poverty campaigners also hailed the initiative as a brilliant success and hope that it becomes a permanent fixture.

Peter Kelly, Director of the Poverty Alliance, said: “This has been one of the government’s most welcome policies.

“At a time when too many families are already living on hopelessly inadequate incomes it’s vital that ministers and councillors work together to maintain the momentum and ensure children don’t have to wait another two years to reap the benefits of free healthy lunches at school.”

East Ayrshire Council bosses agreed that the scheme helped to change attitudes towards healthy eating, but admitted the decision about whether it would become a permanent fixture was out of their hands.

Robin Gourlay, East Ayrshire’s head of facilities management, said: “East Ayrshire Council was chosen as one of five local authorities by the Scottish Government to trial free nutritious school meals for all primary one to three children.

“The other authorities were Glasgow, Borders, Fife and West Dunbartonshire. The pilot initially was planned to run from October 2007 to March 2008 but was extended to June.

“Designed to support better health, early intervention and improve the attitude of children toward wholesome food, there is anecdotal evidence that the pilot brought about progress in the eating habits.

“The government has commissioned an evaluation of the free school meal trial which it hopes to publish in an evaluation report in the autumn and if the outcome is positive, legislation may be introduced to enable local authorities to provide free school meals to primary one to three pupils by August 2010.”