The Scottish Government

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Chapter One: Background

1.1 Introduction

The importance of maintaining a healthy diet is widely recognised by society and government. It is within this context that schools and school meals have an important role to play. It is generally accepted that for school children to maximise their potential for achievement, both within the education system as well as general social well-being, they need to be 'healthy, attentive and emotionally secure.' ² With the majority of Scottish children receiving their education through the school system, school meals provide an important opportunity to directly influence the dietary habits of Scotland's youngsters. The Scottish Executive has introduced a range of measures in schools to improve children's health, including developing national nutritional standards to improve the appeal of school meals.

Within the current consultation document on the Schools (Nutrition and Health Promotion) (Scotland) Bill titled 'Improving the health and nutrition of Scotland's children', Ministers recognise the need to give "our young people every possible advantage in education so they have every opportunity to fulfil their potential."³ The proposals which have been set out by the Scottish Executive bring attention to the areas in which schools and local authorities can contribute, and one of the proposals in the consultation document points out the need to;

"place a duty on local authorities to promote uptake of school meals, in particular free school meals, and a duty to ensure that those receiving free school meals can do so anonymously, as far as is practicable."

1.2 The importance of identification and registration

The importance of having robust and accurate processes of identification and registration of entitlement to free school meals is critical. First and foremost, this helps to ensure free school meals reach those to whom they are targeted. Furthermore, accurate record keeping as a result of a robust registration process is key to the wider statistical information collected by central government.

The School Meals Survey is conducted annually and collects data from all Scotland's publicly funded schools on such elements as the number of pupils eligible and registered for free school meal entitlement. The information is used for benchmarking performance, and has been used in calculating the distribution of grant support to local authorities in previous years. Furthermore, assistance to low-income families such as the free school meal entitlement is widely used as a deprivation indicator by government bodies. For example, within the education sector, these indicators can be linked to educational specific indicators such as attainment levels, attendance levels and so on. Indeed the school inspectorate in Scotland, HMIE, reports on the proportion of free school meal entitlements within their final report of the school as a means of setting the context for a school and its catchment area.

Registration is required to receive free school meals and the process of registration and administration of free school meals is devolved to local authorities. Each local authority has its own process and practice for receiving applications and administration of registration and this has led to some inconsistencies in the way in which local authorities identify and register children eligible for free school meals. As such, in a significant proportion of the 32 local authorities in Scotland, pupils entitled to free school meals but who are not registered for them have been identified, whilst in others the number of children registered is assumed to be the number entitled.

Table 1.1 shows the proportion of pupils eligible, the proportion of pupils eligible and registered and then the percentage of those entitled to free school meals who are registered across all 32 local authorities (including the primary and secondary split). ⁴

Table 1.1 Proportions of pupils eligible and registered for free school meals

The gap between entitlement and registration may be partly due to reasons outwith the control of the local authority such as individuals not claiming benefits that trigger entitlement, or choosing not to register for free school meals due to certain factors such as the social stigma attached to 'being on free dinners'. However, there may also be some inconsistencies created by process issues such as a lack of consistent practice in identifying and registering children entitled to free school meals across Scottish local authorities. Increasing the proportion of pupils who are registered will enhance the likelihood that uptake amongst those eligible will increase.

1.3 Access to free school meals

Entitlement to free school meals is currently via the benefits system. Children are entitled to free school meals if they or their parents are in receipt of one of the following:

• Income support ( IS) or Income-based Job Seekers Allowance ( IBJSA),
• Child Tax Credit, but do not receive Working Tax Credit and have an annual income (as assessed by the Inland Revenue) of below £14,155,
• Those within families who receive support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 may also be entitled ⁵.

1.4 The need for consistent information

In May 2006, the Scottish Executive commissioned George Street Research to conduct a study that would contribute to the evidence base that informs policy on free school meal entitlement. This will help to identify whether the Scottish Executive should issue guidance to encourage a more consistent approach across local authorities in order to enhance the welfare of those eligible for free school meal entitlement. The aims and objectives of the research were to:

• Find out how school children who are entitled to free school meals are identified by local authorities;
• Investigate what the process of registration for free school meal entitlement entails in each local authority;
• Identify any policies that local authorities have to encourage registration amongst those eligible for free school meal entitlement;
• Investigate whether there is a need for the Scottish Executive to provide additional guidance to local authorities, to promote a more consistent approach to the process and to ensure that those eligible for free school meal entitlement are registered;
• Explore whether local authorities have had any difficulties establishing eligibility for free school entitlement e.g. difficultly establishing the income level of recipients on particular benefits (e.g. Pension Credit) or uncertainty over criteria;
• Gather examples of the forms and guidance that local authorities send to parents as part of the registration process;
• Investigate the extent to which local authorities register pupils for other benefits at the same time as establishing free school meal eligibility e.g. school clothing grants;
• Investigate how frequently local authorities require pupils/parents to prove their eligibility or to re-register, and any impact that re-registering has on the numbers registered; and
• Explore how local authorities perceive the link between free school meal entitlement/registration and the funding that they receive from the Scottish Executive.

In addition, the report highlights some examples of good practice in encouraging the identification and registration of pupils amongst local authorities that can be shared across local authorities.

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