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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The national Free Fruit in Schools initiative aims to provide one portion of fruit three times a week during term time to all primary I and primary 2 pupils in local authority managed schools. The initiative is an additional measure to the recommendations made by the Expert Panel on School Meals in their Report, Hungry for Success. Both initiatives are part of the Scottish Executive's Health Improvement Programme which recommends eating more fruit and vegetables. Improving the uptake of school meals and fresh fruit is also an essential part of supporting those children in most need. The Scottish Executive has provided £2m per year for financial years 2003-04 to 2005-06 to introduce the Free Fruit initiative across all publicly funded schools in Scotland.
The initiative had been implemented in most schools by December 2003 and the 2005 SEED School Meal census shows that almost 100% of primary schools were giving free fresh fruit to P1 and P2 pupils. Only four local authorities did not report full coverage of the initiative within all of their primary schools. The Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen) was commissioned by the Schools Group Analytical Service Unit in the Education Department of the Scottish Executive in February 2005 to evaluate the implementation of the Free Fruit in Schools initiative in Scotland.
ScotCen used a mixed methods approach to evaluate the free fruit initiative. Firstly, a formative phase was carried out which encompassed in-depth interviews with key stakeholders and further qualitative work in pilot schools. This phase helped inform the development of the research instruments for the main survey phase. In the main study phase, semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 47 local authority professionals able to comment on both the policy context and the operational aspects of the free fruit initiative. Responses were gathered from all of the 32 local authorities in Scotland. Finally, a questionnaire survey of a representative sample of 510 primary schools was carried out, addressing all aspects of the implementation of the scheme at a school level. After telephone follow-up, 458 questionnaires were completed, a response rate of 90%.
Both local authority professionals and school staff members perceived that the national Free Fruit in Schools initiative had been very successful. Indeed, it was argued that it was one of the most successful initiatives of its kind, and that it should be allowed to continue. The views of the vast majority of respondents was that the initiative had resulted in an increased consumption of fruit and an improvement in healthy eating practices more generally in pupils attending schools of different sizes, serving catchment areas from the relatively affluent to the relatively deprived, and from urban to rural settings. For example, 90% of school respondents thought that the initiative had brought about an improvement in general eating habits, and almost 60% perceived that pupils were now consuming more fruit and vegetables as part of their school meals. The most popular suggested modification for the initiative was not for a radical overhaul of its operation, but for its extension to cover more pupils on a more frequent basis. Similarly, one of the few complaints from a minority of local authority respondents was that the money provided by the Scottish Executive for the initiative was not always adequate, especially in that they wanted to cover more pupil years, or improve other elements of the scheme, such as providing a wider variety of fruit.
A minority of local authority and school respondents held more negative views. It was said that the initiative was disruptive for schools, the fruit supplied to schools was not always of the highest quality, the storage facilities within schools were not always adequate and school staff should be paid to compensate them for preparing and distributing the fruit. However, the overwhelming consensus was that problems were more common in the early phase of the initiative, and that once these difficulties were addressed a routine had been established which allowed the smooth operation of the scheme. In addition, it was also emphasised that such minor difficulties were a price worth paying as the benefits of the initiative far outweighed any negative features. It should be noted that not one local authority respondent thought that the initiative should not continue, and only 5 schools (1%) called for the initiative to be curtailed.
The research only sought the perceptions of local authority and school-based staff, and did not gather the views of pupils and parents or carers. In addition, it was at times difficult to separate the potential impact due to the free fruit initiative and wider policy initiatives, such as Hungry for Success. A minority of respondents argued that the positive effects they had observed were due to a number of factors, and not just the free fruit initiative. Again, though, the broad consensus was that the free fruit initiative had been very successful, and many respondents perceived that the positive impact they observed in relation to the eating behaviour of the pupils was due in no small measure to the initiative alone.
Due to the overwhelmingly positive reception to the initiative, it is clear that major modifications to its operation would not appear to be necessary. However, the changes suggested by the respondents tended to call for an expansion of the initiative. Therefore, the provision of free fruit to all or more primary years, or the provision of fruit on a more frequent basis, would find the support of a majority of respondents in this study. Obviously, though, most of the suggested changes would have significant cost implications to the Scottish Executive, and it is beyond the scope of this evaluation to make such recommendations. What is clear, though, is that the Free Fruit initiative has been very favourably received by local authority and school staff, it has been thought to be responsible for increasing fruit consumption and encouraging the adoption of more healthy eating practices in children living in communities of different socioeconomic status across Scotland and is valued very highly at both the local authority and school level alike.
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