Scottish Parent Teacher Council

January 2004

Background

In 2002 a bill was introduced into the Scottish Parliament proposing that all pupils in Scotland should be provided with free school meals funded out of general taxation. As we already had a series of meetings around the country planned as part of our discussion on the National Debate, we decided to use these to ask parents what they thought of the free school meals proposal.

Parents told us that quality was more important than cost and that, in any case, cost was not the reason why children did not take up school dinners. It had more to do with the need to queue, the environment, that they liked to get out of school, etc. Problems were also identified regarding facilities - many schools had only very small dining halls and/or no on-site kitchens. There was, however, universal agreement that children on benefit should have their meals free and in such a way that they suffered no stigma. We presented this evidence to the Education Committee as part of the Bill's progress through Parliament.

In November 2002, Tommy Sheridan, one of the Bill's sponsors spoke at our annual conference. He is a persuasive speaker and, in a straw poll at the end of his presentation, there was near unanimous support for the free school meal proposal. However, in subsequent discussion the problems identified during our meetings were raised again and by the end delegates agreed that free school meals were not feasible in secondary schools but probably were desirable in the primary sector.

The Survey

After the election in 2003, we were aware that another bill proposing free school meals would be presented to Parliament. We decided this time to do a more extensive survey and in August we sent the attached questionnaire to all our 1,300 member PTAs/PAs. We invited them to discuss the issue either within their committee or more widely with larger groups of parents. We asked them not to force an unnatural consensus but to send back the actual number supporting each option.

We were delighted with the response and would like to thank everyone who took the time and trouble to reply. We understand that in some schools the survey led to some heated discussion and several commented that they had enjoyed the experience.

All in all we heard from 152 schools - 21 secondary, 127 primary and 4 other. Many PTA's/PA's had indeed consulted more widely than the committee and in total we had 3,853 “yes” votes. The survey offered three options and the percentage supporting each of the options is as follows:-

The National Picture

Results from all respondents
Option 1: School meals should be free for all children 41.7%
Option 2: School meals should be free for primary school children but not those in secondary 10.8%
Option 3: The present system for paying for school meals should continue but with the improvements proposed by the Executive 47.4%

Regional Variations

We also looked at area breakdowns of the responses. The areas were chosen to give some regional breakdown but still include enough responses in each to make the results meaningful. The breakdown of responses is as follows.

North and North East Area - comprising 985 responses from 35 schools in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Highland and Shetland

• Option 1: 34.1%
• Option 2: 11.9%
• Option 3: 54.0%

South and South East Area - comprising 626 responses from 25 schools in Fife, East Lothian, Ed inburgh, Midlothian and Scottish Borders

• Option 1: 41.7%
• Option 2: 12.1%
• Option 3: 46.2%

Central Area - comprising 1,252 responses from 39 schools in Angus, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Falkirk, Perth and Stirling. (There was an unusually high response from the small authority of Clackmannanshire where 16 schools sent back forms.)

• Option 1: 46.7%
• Option 2: 11.3%
• Option 3: 42.0%

Western Area - comprising 944 responses from 48 schools in Argyll and Bute, Dumfries and Galloway, East, North and South Ayrshire, East and West Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North and South Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire.

• Option 1: 44.9%
• Option 2: 14.0%
• Option 3: 41.2%

Secondary Schools
We also looked at the 407 responses from the 21 secondary schools. The support for the different options was

• Option 1: 38.6%
• Option 2: 7.4%
• Option 3: 54.1%

This is in line with the fact that generally there was recognition that providing free school meals in secondary schools was logistically difficult and also not likely to be very popular with the pupils.

Comments

Inevitably respondents supplemented their replies with comments, and we give these below.

1. I agree with all the options as they all propose better school dinners, whatever

2. There is no point in offering secondary children free school meals when they have the freedom to leave school and get their lunch elsewhere.

3. Maybe some thought should go to using some of that Ł180 million on other basic education needs e.g. books, pencils, pens, gym equipment etc.

4. Children do not value what they don't pay for, but they don't value what they get already

5. In secondary schools there is a serious problem of capacity. It would be necessary to have "food" kiosks at several locations in the school to cater for all the children. However, this would create a huge rubbish problem

6. At present the throughput is so slow that we only just manage the present numbers. However, not having to cope with paying would speed up throughput.

7. Improving the quality of food is more important than making meals free

8. Free fruit provided by some schools was liked - people would not want to lose this option

9. P upils should not be allowed off the school grounds at lunch. Areas should be provided away from the town for them to socialise in.

10. At present children have too much choice and need guidance.

11. Yes to better quality food, but no to swipe cares in small primary schools

12. We feel improving the quality of meals is fine but cannot see how swipe cards would work with young primary age children.

13. Provoked a lot of discussion!

14. Improvements of meals should include using locally produced fresh food - including spray free/organic veg and fruit, and free range eggs and meat etc. This will be in line with the recent consultation exercise on Best Value announced by the Scottish Executive and will contribute towards sustainability

15. Meals need to improve greatly. Menu has been the same for the past two years, if not more!

16. The money has to come from somewhere - where? Before I could answer I would require more information. If the answer was the council tax I would prefer to pay rather than pay more through an inflated council tax system.

17. Good nutrition most important

18. I think people with high wages should pay for school meals.

19. It should be like prescription charges free to those on incomes of less than Ł14,500

20. One foster parent wrote of the cost problems for her - foster children get free meals, she has to pay for her own and it is costly. She feels free meals would mean an end to queues and offer children a good social education. It would also stop children wandering out of school at lunchtime and using their dinner money for other things e.g. cigarettes.

21. The general view was that school meals need to become a lot healthier with more emphasis on fruit and vegetables. There should be a wide range of food available to vegetarians and nutritious cold uncooked food should also be made available e.g. different types of bread rolls.

22. Can you imagine the problems with 90 P1's with swipe cards?

January 2004

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