This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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School Meals in Scotland
22/06/2004
This
statistical publication notice provides results of the
latest annual survey of school meals, including new
information on the provision of free fruit and chilled
drinking water.
The information was collected in January 2004 from all
publicly funded schools in Scotland.
The main findings for January 2004 are:
Free school meals
* Nineteen per cent of pupils were known to be
entitled to free school meals. Until this year, this
figure had fallen each year since 1998, when it was 22 per
cent (Table 1). A slight increase this year could be due
to more accurate reporting following a change in the survey
form.
* Of those entitled, 92 per cent were registered for
free meals. This equates to 18 per cent of all pupils
(Table 1).
* Of those entitled, 69 per cent were present and
took a free school meal on the survey day, a percentage
which has declined slightly in recent years. This equates
to 13 per cent of all pupils (Table 2).
* Twenty-six per cent of mainstream schools had an
anonymised system for free school meals receipt (Tables 18
and 19). School meals (free or purchased)
* Of those pupils present on the survey day, 49 per
cent took a meal supplied by the school, a decrease from 51
per cent in 2003 (Table 3). Healthy eating
* Ninety-nine per cent of primary schools gave free
fresh fruit to P1 and P2 pupils, and 78 per cent of all
schools had free fresh chilled water available to pupils
and staff at all times. (Tables 18, 19 and 20).
In January 2004 around 95 per cent of primary and 89 per
cent of secondary pupils on school registers were present
on census day, an increase compared with the previous
year.
Schools in which no pupils took a school meal are
excluded from tables 1-17 in the publication, as it is
assumed that these schools do not provide school meals.
These schools were included in some columns of Tables 18
and 20 (there were no publicly funded secondary schools in
which no pupils took a school meal).
Figures for special schools may be unreliable, as all
pupils in the school may be automatically given free school
meals. They have therefore not been published in the local
authority tables.
Figures for primary schools may include some nursery
school pupils attending primary schools.
The number of pupils entitled to free school meals was
not available in Edinburgh. Therefore, the percentage of
pupils entitled to free school meals in each school in the
January 2003 School Meals Survey was applied to the school
roll figure from January 2004 School Meals Survey, to
obtain the estimated number of pupils entitled to free
school meals (or the number registered, which was used if
it was higher).
The number of pupils entitled to free school meals in
East Renfrewshire was higher than normal due to their
misinterpretation about the eligibility for free school
meals.
The rural/ urban classifications in Table 5 are defined
as follows:
* Large urban areas - settlements over 125,000
population. This covers the city conurbations of Edinburgh,
Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee.
* Other urban areas - settlements of 10,000 to
125,000 people.
* Accessible small towns - settlements of between
3,000 and 10,000 people and within 30 minutes drive of a
settlement of 10,000 or more.
* Small remote towns - settlements of between 3,000
and 10,000 people, who are not within 30 minutes drive of a
settlement of 10,000 or more people.
* Accessible rural areas - settlements of less than
3,000 people and within 30 minutes drive of a settlement of
10,000 or more people
* Remote rural areas - settlements of less than 3,000
people who are not within 30 minutes drive of a settlement
of 10,000 or more people.
The information in this publication is used for
benchmarking performance, and has been used in calculating
the distribution of grant support to local authorities in
previous years. Entitlement to free school meals is widely
used as an indicator of deprivation, which can be seen to
be linked to attainment levels, attendance rates etc.
Tables 9, 10, 15 and 16 are National Priority
indicators.
Entitlement and registration
Local Authorities are issued with agreed guidance to
allow for a figure to be given for those pupils whom they
understand to be entitled to free school meals but who are
not registered as such on their systems. For the first time
this year, the number of pupils registered was also
collected. Some authorities returned the same number of
pupils registered as entitled (generally those showing 100
per cent in the third column of tables 7 and 13).
Pupils entitled to free school meals are those within
families who receive Income Support (IS) or Income-based
Job Seekers Allowance (IBJSA). Those within families who
receive support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum
Act 1999 may also be entitled. Children who receive IS or
IBJSA in their own right are also entitled to receive free
school meals. Also entitled are children whose parents or
carers receive Child Tax Credit, do not receive Working Tax
Credit and have an annual income (as assessed by the Inland
Revenue) of below £13,230.
Healthy eating
This publication also gives new information on the
Executive's healthy eating campaign. Ministers accepted all
of the recommendations in the report of the Expert Panel on
School Meals. This was set up to improve the provision,
presentation and nutrition of school meals and increase
take up. Amongst other measures, standalone nutrient
standards have been issued to authorities. We have also
provided detailed guidance on implementing the Panel's
recommendations and setting up a free fruit scheme. The
three aspects of this initiative which were measured in the
survey are:
* Anonymised system: whether there is a system in
place (e.g. a swipe card system) that ensures that
recipients of free school meals remain anonymous.
* Drinking water: whether there is an adequate supply
of readily accessible drinking water for pupils and staff,
which is free, fresh and chilled, provided with drinking
cups, glasses or drinking bottles both within the dining
room and available during periods of learning.
* Free fruit: whether P1 and P2 pupils are supplied
with free fruit at least three times per week, in addition
to any fruit provided as part of the lunch.
This is a National Statistics publication. National
Statistics are produced to high professional standards set
out in the National Statistics Code of Practice. They
undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that
they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any
political interference.