| Campaign
for Free School Meals
Recent briefings:
Scottish
Executive school meals Bill
CPAG in Scotland
is urging supporters to take an important new opportunity to help
in the campaign for free school meals for all primary school children.
Hundreds of
you took time last year to respond to consultation on proposals
by Frances Curran MSP for a free school meals Bill. 96% of the staggering
517 responses were supportive and the Bill is currently being drafted
for consideration by the Scottish Parliament.
However in the
meantime please could you take the time to submit a response by
31 July 2006 to a Scottish Executive consultation
on a separate School (Nutrition and Health Promotion) (Scotland)
Bill which aims to improve access to healthy food in schools.
Details can
be found at www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/05/02142249/0
or from the Scottish Executive on 0131 244 7139.
The Scottish
Executive proposals, as they stand, rule out universal free school
meal provision.
We would therefore
ask you to use the consultation process to:
- demand that
the Schools (Nutrition and Heath Promotion) (Scotland) Bill includes
a new duty to provide free nutritious school meals to all primary
school children
- restate
why you support free school meals for all primary school children.
The consultation
response form (www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/05/02142249/3)
provides space at Q7 with which you can make your case.
More details
on the case for free school meals can be found in the Free
School Meals Campaign Briefing document (173 KB Word doc)
Lobbying
MSPs: the School Meals and Snacks (Scotland) Bill
CPAG in Scotland
is calling on supporters to lobby members of the Scottish Parliament
to support a new free school meals Bill.
Twenty of Scotland’s
129 MSPs, including Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green, Independent
and Socialist members, have already pledged their support for the
new School Meals and Snacks (Scotland) Bill proposal lodged by Frances
Curran MSP on 22 March 2006. The Bill is currently being drafted
for consideration by the Scottish Parliament. See (http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/bills/membersBills.htm)
for more details.
This members
Bill, supported by CPAG, would if successful introduce free, nutritious
school meals for all of Scotland’s primary school children,
as well as statutory nutritional standards, a complaints and enforcement
scheme, powers to ban the promotion of junk food in schools and
guaranteed access to water and milk.
Along with the
Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland, Poverty Alliance,
One Plus and the Scottish Churches Social Inclusion Network CPAG
has written to every MSP (view
the letter (479 KB Word doc) calling on them to support the
Bill and is asking supporters in Scotland to back this up with individual
letters to their local MSPs. To find your local MSP see www.scottish.parliament.uk/msp/index.htm.
An analysis
and summary of the 500 overwhelmingly positive responses to consultation
on the proposed Bill, many from CPAG supporters, is now complete
and can be viewed on the Scottish parliament website www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/bills/pdfs/mb-consultations/SchoolMealsConsultationAnalysis.pdf.
Also see www.freeschoolmeals.org
Campaign
for Free School Meals
Background
Scotland has
amongst the worst child poverty rates and health inequalities in
Europe. The Campaign for Free School Meals, initiated by CPAG in
Scotland, was launched in 2001 to ensure that in the new Scotland
every school child has at least one decent nutritious meal a day.
The Campaign brings together a broad-based coalition of organisations
across Scotland, including children's charities, churches, unions,
public health groups, anti-poverty groups, dieticians, politicians
and local government representatives.
The
Case for Free School Meals
The case for
free school meals is based on three key arguments; reducing
stigma, tackling poverty and improving
health.
Reducing
Stigma
Means-testing creates stigma [note
1] that discourages uptake of free school meals, with
official figures suggesting that around one in three Scots children
entitled to free school meals are not taking them [note
2] . Furthermore for those children who do take up their
entitlement, evidence suggests that stigma all too often exacerbates
the impact of poverty on their vulnerable lives [note
3]. Given that there is no stigma associated with using
universal services such as NHS hospitals and state schools, there
is strong reason to believe that by making free school meals a universal
service the stigma too often associated with them can be removed.
Tackling
Poverty
Universal free
school meals can also help to tackle poverty itself, not just the
associated stigma. Currently a significant number of children officially
living in poverty in Scotland have no right to free school meals,
particularly those living in households where parents are working,
but on low wages. 27% of children live in poverty yet only 19% of
school children are entitled to free school meals. Extending entitlement
to free school meals would help increase the disposable income of
some of our poorest households. Furthermore free meals could play
an important role in ensuring that parents are not worse off when
moving into work, playing a significant role in supporting the welfare-to-work
element of government strategies to end child poverty.
Improving
Health
There is considerable
evidence that adequate nutritional standards in school meals could
make a significant impact on children's health. Health and nutrition
experts tell us that:
- adult dietary
patterns are learnt in childhood
- poor diet
in children is linked to disease in later life
- Scottish
children eat only two of the five recommended portions of fresh
fruit and vegetables a day
- three quarters
of Scottish children appear to eat no green leafy vegetables at
all.
Free
school meals, of a good nutritious standard, have, "the potential
to transform the diet of our young people" [note
4]. Further evidence suggests that providing nutritious
food at school improves cognition, attendance and classroom behaviour,
crucial factors in tackling the opportunity gaps disadvantaged children
face [note 5].
Current
Activity
Other
current campaign activity
- building
further cross party support for free school meals (including sponsoring
a fringe meeting at the Scottish National Party and Liberal Democrat
party conferences)
- monitoring
the impact of the Executive's strategy for improving school meals
(Hungry for Success);
- working
with local communities to organise community based campaign meetings
- developing
a regular Free School Meals e-newsletter
Further information
Parliamentary
Briefing on the School Meals Debate (206KB Word document)
Even
The Tatties Have Batter (400KB pdf document)
Pamphlet outlining the case for the first Scottish free school meals
bill in 2002.
For more information
on the Free School Meals Campaign contact:
John Dickie,
Head of CPAG in Scotland,
jdickie@cpagscotland.org.uk
or telephone 0131 552 3303
References
1.
Pamela Story and Rosemary Chamberlain, Improving Take Up of Free
School Meals, Research Brief 270, DfEE, 2001. [back
to text]
2. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00347-00.asp
[back to text]
3. Will McMahon and Tim Marsh, Filling
the Gap, CPAG, 1999. [back to
text]
4. Dr Wendy Wrieden and Professor AS Anderson,
'Nutritional dimensions of school meals' in "Even
The Tatties Have Batter" eds. Usha Brown and Danny
Phillips, CPAG in Scotland, 2002. [back
to text]
5. Cornelius Ani and Sally Grantham-McGregor
'The Effects of Breakfast Clubs on Educational Performance, Attendance
and Classroom Behaviour' in eds. Nick Donovan and Cathy Street,
Fit for School, NPI, 1999. [back
to text]
6. Scottish Daily Mirror, Thursday March
18th 2004. [back to text]
|
Top of Page
Send Comments to CPAG