Scottish Government

School Meals in Scotland, January 2004

June 22, 2004

A Scottish Executive National Statistics Publication

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This statistical publication notice provides results of the latest annual survey of school meals, including new information on the provision of free fruit and chilled drinking water.

The information was collected in January 2004 from all publicly funded schools in Scotland.

The main findings for January 2004 are:

Free school meals

• Nineteen per cent of pupils were known to be entitled to free school meals. Until this year, this figure had fallen each year since 1998, when it was 22 per cent ( Table 1). A slight increase this year could be due to more accurate reporting following a change in the survey form.
• Of those entitled, 92 per cent were registered for free meals. This equates to 18 per cent of all pupils ( Table 1).
• Of those entitled, 69 per cent were present and took a free school meal on the survey day, a percentage which has declined slightly in recent years. This equates to 13 per cent of all pupils ( Table 2).
• Twenty-six per cent of mainstream schools had an anonymised system for free school meals receipt (Tables 18 and 19).

School meals (free or purchased)

• Of those pupils present on the survey day, 49 per cent took a meal supplied by the school, a decrease from 51 per cent in 2003 ( Table 3).

Healthy eating

• Ninety-nine per cent of primary schools gave free fresh fruit to P1 and P2 pupils, and 78 per cent of all schools had free fresh chilled water available to pupils and staff at all times. (Tables 18, 19 and 20).

Contents

BACKGROUND NOTES

TABLES

Table 1: Pupils entitled to free school meals by sector, 1997 to 2004
Table 2: Entitled pupils taking free school meals by sector, 1997 to 2004
Table 3: Pupils present taking school meals (free or purchased) by sector, 1997 to 2004
Table 4a: Entitlement to free school meals, by size of school, publicly funded primary schools 2004
Table 4b: Entitlement to free school meals, by size of school, publicly funded secondary schools 2004
Table 5: Entitlement to free school meals, by urban/rural indicator of school, 2004
Table 6: Pupils in education authority primary schools: Number of pupils entitled, registered and taking free school meals, 2004
Table 7: Pupils in education authority primary schools: Percentage of pupils entitled, registered and taking free school meals, 2004
Table 8: Pupils in education authority primary schools: Number and percentage of pupils taking school meals (free or purchased), 2004
Table 9: Pupils in education authority primary schools: Percentage of pupils entitled to free school meals, 1997 to 2004 (NPI 3.1.C)
Table 10: Pupils in education authority primary schools: Percentage of entitled pupils taking free school meals, 1997 to 2004 (NPI 3.1.C)
Table 11: Pupils in education authority primary schools: Percentage of pupils present taking school meals (free or purchased), 1997 to 2004
Table 12: Pupils in education authority secondary schools: Number of pupils entitled, registered and taking free school meals, 2004
Table 13: Pupils in education authority secondary schools: Percentage of pupils entitled, registered and taking free school meals, 2004
Table 14: Pupils in education authority secondary schools: Number and percentage of pupils taking school meals (free or purchased), 2004
Table 15: Pupils in education authority secondary schools: Percentage of pupils entitled to free school meals, 1997 to 2004 (NPI 3.1.C)
Table 16: Pupils in education authority secondary schools: Percentage of entitled pupils taking free school meals, 1997 to 2004 (NPI 3.1.C)
Table 17: Pupils in education authority secondary schools: Percentage of pupils present taking school meals (free or purchased), 1997 to 2004
Table 18: Education authority primary schools with an anonymised system, drinking water and free fruit, 2004
Table 19: Education authority secondary schools with an anonymised system and drinking water, 2004
Table 20: Education authority special schools with drinking water, 2004
Table 21: The price of a free meal credit (), 2004

CHARTS

Chart 1: Percentage entitled to free school meals, 1997 to 2004
Chart 2: Percentage take-up of free school meals, 1997 to 2004
Chart 3: Percentage take-up of school meals (free or purchased), 1997 to 2004
Chart 4: Meals taken by pupils in primary and secondary schools, 2004