The announcement of the free meals scheme, estimated to cost up to46m, coincided with the publication of the evaluation of asix-month, 5m pilot, which ran across five local authorities andcovered 35,000 children (News, 31 October 2007).
In the pilot areas, among children who were not previously eligible forfree school meals, uptake of school lunches increased from 41 to 69 percent. It rose from 89 to 94 per cent among pupils who were alreadyeligible for free meals.
The report found no behavioural changes in pupils who were taking thefree meals and it was unclear whether children were trying new,healthier foods, or if they were eating more healthily at home. It wasalso unclear whether the scheme was helping parents to learn more aboutfoods, or if parents were buying healthier foods for the home.
John Dickie, head of the Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland, said,'This is a massive step forward in the campaign to ensure every child,whatever their home circumstances, gets a healthy meal at school. Itwill help boost children's health, education and well-being and providea welcome benefit to hard-pressed families in Scotland.'
However, Dave Watson, Scottish organiser of public services unionUnison, warned, 'We have serious concerns about the pressures on localgovernment finance and the announcement seemed to make no mention of theextra costs involved. If the Scottish government is serious aboutchildren's health and well-being, it must put its money where its mouthis.'
FURTHER INFORMATION
'Evaluation of the Free School Meals Trial for P1 to P3 pupils' isavailable at www.scotland.gov.uk/publications.
