This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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School meals in Scotland
07/06/2005
This statistical publication notice provides results of the latest annual survey of school meals.
The information was collected in January 2005 from all publicly funded schools in Scotland. For the first time, the publication also includes information about local authority expenditure on meals.
The main findings for January 2005 are:
School meals (free or purchased)
- Of those pupils present on the survey day, 47 per cent took a meal supplied by the school, a decrease from 49 per cent in 2004. The decrease was largest in the secondary sector. Local authorities have reported that some of the reduction was due to temporary factors, including initial responses to the implementation of new menus and teething problems with cashless transaction systems.
Free school meals
- Nineteen per cent of pupils were known to be entitled to free school meals. This is approximately the same percentage as was reported in 2004. Seventeen per cent of all pupils were registered for free school meals.
- Of those entitled, 67 per cent were present and took a free school meal on the survey day, a percentage which has been declining in recent years. This equates to 12 per cent of all pupils.
- Thirty-three per cent of mainstream schools had an anonymised system for free school meals receipt, up from 26 per cent in 2004.
Healthy eating
- Nearly every primary school gave free fresh fruit to P1 and P2 pupils, and 94 per cent of all schools had free fresh chilled water available to pupils and staff at all times, up from 78 per cent in 2004.