Background Notes
1. There were 23 schools (with an average of 12 pupils each) in which no pupils took a school meal. These are excluded from tables 1-19 in the publication. These schools were included in some data from Table 20 onwards.
2. Entitled/registered figures for special schools may be unreliable, as all pupils in the school may be automatically given free school meals. They have therefore not been published in the local authority tables.
3. Figures for primary schools may include some nursery school pupils attending primary schools.
4. The rural/ urban classifications in Table 5 are defined as in the Scottish Household Survey, http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2003/08/17898/24432
5. The information in this publication is used for benchmarking performance, and is used in calculating the distribution of grant support to local authorities. Registration for free school meals is widely used as an indicator of deprivation, which can be seen to be linked to attainment levels, attendance rates etc.
Trial of free school meals for all pupils in P1-P3
6. All schools in five local authorities (East Ayrshire, Fife, Glasgow City, Scottish Borders and West Dunbartonshire) took part in a six month trial, whereby all pupils in P1-P3 we entitled to free school meals. Full results of findings from these schools will be published in a research report later this year.
7. Information was still collected on whether pupils in these schools were registered for free school meals under the normal eligibility criteria. This was necessary in order for them to receive school meals before the commencement of the trial, and after the trial (which was originally due to finish at Easter, though was then extended until the end of the academic year), but also served to maintain the collection of information on this group.
Registration and entitlement
8. This survey shows the number of pupils actually registered for free school meals. Local Authorities are also issued with agreed guidance to allow for a figure to be given for those pupils whom they understand to be entitled to free school meals but who are not registered as such on their systems. Some authorities returned the same number of pupils registered as entitled (generally those showing zero in the third column of tables 9 and 15). This should not be interpreted as meaning that these authorities have managed to achieve complete registration of eligible pupils, but rather that they have not identified any non-registered pupils. The Scottish Government is working with local authorities to develop good practice to ensure that those eligible for free school meal entitlement are registered.
9. Pupils entitled to free school meals are those within families who receive Income Support ( IS) or Income-based Job Seekers Allowance ( IBJSA). Those within families who receive support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 may also be entitled. Children who receive IS or IBJSA in their own right are also entitled to receive free school meals. Also entitled are children whose parents or carers receive Child Tax Credit, do not receive Working Tax Credit and have an annual income (as assessed by the Inland Revenue) of below £14,495.
Healthy eating
10. This publication also gives information on the following three aspects of the government's longstanding healthy eating initiative:
- Anonymised system: whether there is a system in place ( e.g. a swipe card system) that ensures that recipients of free school meals remain anonymous.
- Drinking water: whether there is an adequate supply of readily accessible drinking water for pupils and staff, which is free, fresh and chilled, provided with drinking cups, glasses or drinking bottles both within the dining room and available during periods of learning.
- Free fruit: whether the school has extended the national scheme requiring P1 and P2 pupils to be supplied with free fruit at least three times per week, in addition to any fruit provided as part of the lunch.
11. For the purpose of the survey, breakfast clubs were defined as; "supervised provision of food to some or all pupils before the beginning of the school day, whether provided free or at a charge".
Expenditure Data
12. Data relates to the previous financial year, and hence may give different messages from the survey data. The finance data more closely relates to the results of the 2007 survey.
13. Caution should be taken if making inter-authority comparisons of the expenditure data as each authority may include/exclude different elements of expenditure in their figures.
14. The figures represent the gross expenditure ( i.e. not taking account of any income from school meals).
15. Figures are calculated based on final outturn data returned by the 32 Scottish local authorities, but before audit. Therefore there may be small differences when comparing to final audited Local Authority figures. Blanket guidance for definitions of what should be recorded under "gross expenditure on school meals" is not provided. We expect that in some cases the figures do not include some elements of operating costs (property/admin costs etc.)
16. STOs (Significant Trading Operations) or PPP contracts may also be a factor. In some authorities the meals service will be managed by STOs, which means that the only cost that the education department incurs is the cost of free meals which is billed to the education department by the caterers.
General
17. This is a National Statistics publication. National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference.
18. The following symbol is used in the publication:
- | = | zero or rounds to zero |
.. | = | not available |
# | = | not applicable |
* | = | where numbers involve fewer than five individuals. Where this figure then contributes to the total, it has been assumed throughout that this figure is 3. |
19. This report was edited by: Mal Cooke and Raymond Sloan.
20. All tables are available on the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00665
Enquiries or comments
21. Public enquiries (non-media) about the information contained in this News Release should be addressed to
Mal Cooke,
Pupil, Teacher and School Statistics,
Scottish Government,
Area 1B (mail 27),
Victoria Quay,
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ.Telephone 0131 244 1689
or email school.stats@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
22. Media enquiries about the information in this News Release should be addressed to
Aileen Easton
Telephone 0131 244 2972
Statistics Publication Notice
24 th June, 2008