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Education Series

7 June, 2005

ISSN 1479-7569
ISBN 0 7559 2590 4 (Web only publication)

This document is also available in pdf format (205k)
the tables are also available in Excel format (156k)

A Scottish Executive National Statistics Publication

This statistical publication notice provides results of the latest annual survey of school meals. The information was collected in January 2005 from all publicly funded schools in Scotland.

For the first time the publication also includes information about local authority expenditure on meals.

The main findings for January 2005 are:

School meals (free or purchased)

• Of those pupils present on the survey day, 47 per cent took a meal supplied by the school, a decrease from 49 per cent in 2004 (Table 3). The decrease was largest in the secondary sector. Local authorities have reported that some of the reduction was due to temporary factors, including initial responses to the implementation of new menus and teething problems with cashless transaction systems.

Free school meals

• Nineteen per cent of pupils were known to be entitled to free school meals ( Table 1). This is approximately the same percentage as was reported in 2004. Seventeen per cent of all pupils were registered for free school meals.

• Of those entitled, 67 per cent were present and took a free school meal on the survey day, a percentage which has been declining in recent years. This equates to 12 per cent of all pupils ( Table 2).
• Thirty-three per cent of mainstream schools had an anonymised system for free school meals receipt, up from 26 per cent in 2004 (Tables 18 and 19).

Healthy eating

• Nearly every primary school gave free fresh fruit to P1 and P2 pupils, and 94 per cent of all schools had free fresh chilled water available to pupils and staff at all times, up from 78 per cent in 2004. (Tables 18, 19 and 20).

TABLES

Summary figures
Table 1 - Pupils entitled to free school meals by sector, 1998 to 2005
Table 2 - Entitled pupils taking free school meals by sector, 1998 to 2005
Table 3 - Pupils present taking school meals (free or purchased) by sector, 1998 to 2005
Table 4a - Pupils taking school meals, free or paid for, by size of school, publicly funded primary schools 2005
Table 4b - Pupils taking school meals, free or paid for, by size of school, publicly funded secondary schools 2005
Table 5 - Pupils taking school meals, free or paid for, by urban/rural indicator of school, 2005

Primary
Table 6 - Pupils in education authority primary schools: Number of pupils entitled, registered and taking free school meals, 2005
Table 7 - Pupils in education authority primary schools: Percentage of pupils entitled, registered and taking free school meals, 2005
Table 8 - Pupils in education authority primary schools: Number and percentage of pupils taking school meals (free or purchased), 2005
Table 9 - Pupils in education authority primary schools: Percentage of pupils entitled to free school meals, 1998 to 2005 ( NPI 3.1.C)
Table 10 - Pupils in education authority primary schools: Percentage of entitled pupils taking free school meals, 1998 to 2005 ( NPI 3.1.C)
Table 11 - Pupils in education authority primary schools: Percentage of pupils present taking school meals (free or purchased), 1998 to 2005

Secondary
Table 12 - Pupils in education authority secondary schools: Number of pupils entitled, registered and taking free school meals, 2005
Table 13 - Pupils in education authority secondary schools: Percentage of pupils entitled, registered and taking free school meals, 2005
Table 14 - Pupils in education authority secondary schools: Number and percentage of pupils taking school meals (free or purchased), 2005
Table 15 - Pupils in education authority secondary schools: Percentage of pupils entitled to free school meals, 1998 to 2005 ( NPI 3.1.C)
Table 16 - Pupils in education authority secondary schools: Percentage of entitled pupils taking free school meals, 1998 to 2005 ( NPI 3.1.C)
Table 17 - Pupils in education authority secondary schools: Percentage of pupils present taking school meals (free or purchased), 1998 to 2005

Other information
Table 18 - Education authority primary schools with an anonymised system, drinking water and free fruit, 2005
Table 19 - Education authority secondary schools with an anonymised system and drinking water, 2005
Table 20 - Education authority special schools with drinking water, 2005
Table 21 - The value of a free meal credit, 2005

Expenditure
Table 22 - Local authority expenditure on school meals, 2002-03 and 2003-04
Table 23 - Local authority expenditure on school meals, by sector, 2003-04

CHARTS
Chart 1 - Percentage entitled to free school meals, 1998 to 2005
Chart 2 - Percentage take-up of free school meals, 1998 to 2005
Chart 3 - Percentage take-up of school meals (free or purchased), 1998 to 2005
Chart 4 - Meals taken by pupils in primary and secondary schools, 2005

BACKGROUND NOTES

1. There were 16 schools (with an average of nine pupils each) in which no pupils took a school meal. These 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).
2. Entitled/registered 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.
3. Figures for primary schools may include some nursery school pupils attending primary schools.
4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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. This survey also shows the number of pupils actually registered. 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).
7. 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 £13,480.

Healthy eating

8. This publication also gives 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. The Executive 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.

Expenditure

9. Making inter-authority comparisons of the expenditure data is not advisable without knowing exactly what each authority has included/excluded in the figures.
10. The figures represent the gross expenditure ( i.e. not taking account of any income from school meals).
11. Figures are calculated based on audited data returned by the 32 Scottish local authorities. Blanket guidance for definitions of what should be recorded under "gross expenditure on school meals" is not provided. We expect that in some cases the figures do not include some elements of operating costs (property/admin costs etc.)
12. STOs (Significant Trading Operations) or PPP contracts may also be a factor. In some authorities the meals service will be managed by STOs, which means that the only cost that the education department incurs is the cost of free meals which is billed to the education department by the catering section.

General

13. 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.
14. The following symbol is used in the publication:

- = zero or rounds to zero
n/a = not applicable
* = where numbers involve fewer than five individuals. Where this figure then contributes to the total, it has been assumed throughout that this figure is 3.

15. The team responsible for producing this document was: Mal Cooke, Matt Flanagan, Debbie Hall, Colin Gallacher.
16. All tables are available on the Scottish Executive website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00426

Enquiries or comments

17. Public enquiries (non-media) about the information contained in this News Release should be addressed to

Telephone 0131 244 0300
or email school.stats@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

18. Media enquiries about the information in this News Release should be addressed to

Sarah Cuthbert-Kerr
Telephone 0131 244 2972

Statistics Publication Notice
7 June, 2005

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