Question reference: S6W-01235
- Date lodged: 6 July 2021
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Current status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 July 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government by what date universal free meals in primary schools will be fully implemented, and what progress has been made to date regarding the delivery of this.
Answer
Free school meals are a vital support to thousands of children and young people across the country - ensuring that children have access to a free, healthy and nutritious meal on every day they are in school and are ready to engage in learning.
The Scottish Government and our local authority partners have reached agreement to introduce universal free school lunches, during school term-time, for children in primaries 4 and 5 during the course of the current financial year. Universal provision for all children in primary 4 will begin in August 2021, whilst universal provision for all children in primary 5 will begin in January 2022.
We are providing local authorities with £28 million in this financial year to deliver this commitment, which will see around 90,000 additional children become newly entitled to receive free school lunches during the course of the forthcoming school year.
We will continue to work with our partners in local authorities over the coming months to ensure that our commitment to expanding the universal provision of free school lunches to include all primary school children, during term-time, is delivered by August 2022.