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To ask the First Minister whether he will provide an update on the Scottish Government’s commitment to roll out universal free school meals, in light of reported concerns that there will be further delays to the expansion of universal free school meal provision for primary 6 and P7 pupils, and that no progress has been made on its commitment to establish a secondary school pilot scheme. (S6F-02299)

Will the Scottish Government keep its promise to Scotland’s children? Can the First Minister guarantee that the roll-out will be delivered by the end of this session?

The Scottish Government was leading the rest of the UK on universal free school meals roll-out, but the work has stalled and we are falling behind.

Under Nicola Sturgeon, the P6 and P7 expansion was delayed. Last year’s announcement to pilot the provision in secondary schools has amounted to nothing. Close working would suggest communication; however, although I have made freedom of information requests of every local authority, there has not been even one phone call from the Scottish Government to any school or council about them.

Instead of prioritising hungry children, the Government approached the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities at the start of this month to broker further delays. Astonishingly, councils are now being warned that full roll-out in primary schools might not happen in this session of Parliament. Children are going hungry today and cannot wait until 2026—

Thank you, convener. I am grateful to have the opportunity to be here and I am grateful to the petitioner, Alison Dowling, for bringing the matter to Parliament.

I think that the response from the cabinet secretary that you referenced was to one of my questions in the chamber, of which I have asked many. I do not doubt the Scottish Government’s commitment to the policy, and I commend the Scottish Government for the implementation of universal free school meals so far. In many respects, we have led the United Kingdom. We have inspired other campaigners and we have probably prompted other Governments to follow in our footsteps. However, we are no longer leading the way, which is why I wanted to speak to the petition.

When I visit schools across Lanarkshire and Falkirk, in my region of Central Scotland, I have the pleasure and privilege of speaking to young people, teachers and school staff, and sometimes parents, when they are in the school. Some of the things that I have heard have shocked me to the core. This will probably not be news to colleagues, but it is important to get it on the record. When I am in schools and am speaking to teachers and their trade unions, they give me examples of hungry children eating pencils and rubbers in classrooms, and then going home and not having any food in their bellies until the next day.

We talk a lot in the Parliament about closing the poverty-related attainment gap. How can you learn and thrive when you are hungry and not getting the nutrition and nourishment that you need? I feel that there is a moral imperative not just to continue with the policy but to do so as a matter of urgency.

I am sitting here with lots of papers and dates of questions and updates. There has been a change in ministers, and the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, Jenny Gilruth, who has a background in teaching, understands the issues, but I am afraid that I have to tell you that there has been no progress. In fact, we are about to go backwards.

Since September last year, when the Scottish Government said in the programme for government that it would pilot the policy in secondary schools as well as progressing it at pace in primary schools, I have asked it many times—and journalists have also asked—where the pilot schemes will be and which schools and local authorities the Government is speaking to.

Eventually, I had to use a freedom of information request and, in the past few weeks, I have had all the responses back from every council—32 local authorities. I asked them whether any of their schools had had any contact from the Government, but not one had. We keep hearing that work is being done and there are discussions between the Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and partners, but that is not happening.

On Monday morning, I learned that the Government had approached COSLA and said that, due to budget pressures and other factors, it would not be able to deliver the scheme. In a report that I have seen—I probably should not have seen it—COSLA says and is telling its members that that could mean that full roll-out of universal school meals will be beyond this parliamentary session. I am here to tell you that children are eating pencils and rubbers, but the Government is willing to kick the issue down the road until the end of this parliamentary session or beyond. That is not acceptable by any measure. The good work that has been done up to primary 5 is due to the political will to make it happen.

I do not have much more of your time, but I want to say that I held a major event in Parliament in May with the Scottish Trades Union Congress women’s committee, which has been leading the food for thought campaign. More than 100 people were there, mostly children and young people, and I believe that we need to hear their voices. They were very clear on what needs to happen, which is why I asked Jenny Gilruth about co-production—not because it is a buzzword to use but because if we bring children and young people into the decision-making process, they will tell us the solutions.

The Government has raised issues such as some schools being too small and some canteens not being big enough to have everyone in one lunch setting. That is fine; let us find some workarounds—for example, schools could have lunch time over two sittings, or they could work with partners, including businesses. Young people are learning about food waste and local food production. We are supposed to be a good food nation—surely we can find a way.

If the Parliament had approved my amendments to the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Bill, we would have locked the policy in. I pay tribute to colleagues in Parliament, including those in Scottish Labour, the Scottish Conservatives and the Scottish Liberal Democrats, for backing those amendments. I know that Scottish National Party and Green colleagues believe in the policy, too, and we have to deliver it.

I will finish with the words of a young person, because I think that that is appropriate. Colleagues will be aware that today a landmark report by the Trussell Trust on hunger in Scotland was published. One in six of our citizens is going hungry. There is not a typical person, but we know that some groups are affected more than others. Gemma is a young person from the charity Passion4Fusion, and she was at the food for thought event in May. She said:

“Studies have shown that eating together with friends, peers and family promotes good eating habits, happiness and the ability to converse.”

Gemma is right. We have to take the stigma away from free school meal provision.

Providing universal free school meals for all students is about more than just removing the costs and worry of school meal debt, which is accruing and building up every day. It is about removing the divide between students from different backgrounds and building a sense of community. That is why I support the petition.

I thank the committee for your on-going work. I hope that, collectively as a Parliament, we can find some solutions, because children cannot wait until the end of the parliamentary session; they can barely wait until the end of the day. I commend the petition to the committee.

That is a very helpful update. As part of that work, will the Government be looking at whether there is a need for any change to legislation or the governance arrangements? It can be quite complex, with a number of agencies involved. At the moment, do you have any sense of whether current legislative and governance arrangements are sufficient to tackle both the current and the future challenges and the risk profile that you alluded to?

Thank you. You did mention communication at the start, so I am sure that that is appreciated.

To come back to water scarcity, because I am sure that it might be an issue over the summer, have discussions been taking place between the Scottish Government and the UK Government on that issue?

Yes—that is interesting. I am sure that we will continue that conversation in the months ahead.

We received a letter from the minister in November stating that the process for developing a biodiversity delivery plan will involve

“identifying the priority actions”

as well as

“identifying delivery partners, mechanisms for delivery, and the targets and indicators needed to successfully deliver those actions.”

Can you update us on how you are determining priority actions? How are you engaging with stakeholders and securing buy-in across multiple sectors?

The panel will know that the Scottish environment strategy is a requirement of section 47 of the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021, that the act enables ministers to keep pace with European Union law and that its design ensures that Scottish environment law and standards can keep pace with EU developments. To that end, what actions are ministers and officials taking to ensure that environmental law keeps pace with EU standards, including work that is progressing on ecocide law?

Good morning to the panel. I want to start by asking about water scarcity, which is an issue that has been in the news recently and which has been discussed in Parliament with you, cabinet secretary. How will water scarcity and flood management be strategically resourced and prioritised over the summer, when we are all in recess, and what is the longer-term outlook?

About 10 days ago, I think, I read reports in the media of some restrictions in parts of England on the use of hosepipes and sprinklers in people’s gardens. Is that something that could be introduced in Scotland this year?