Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme and the Scottish School Milk Scheme: data collection

Chapter 1: Background and Methodology

Background

This report presents analysis from a data collection exercise conducted to collect information about the operation of the Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme (SMHSS) and local authority school milk schemes to inform development of a new Scottish School Milk Scheme (SMS).

The research was conducted by issuing a survey to local authorities, childcare settings and suppliers relating to the SMHSS and to local authorities for the SMS. The survey was informed through engagement with the SMHSS Implementation and Operation Group.

This commission helps to facilitate understanding of costs faced by settings and local authorities in providing milk, non-dairy alternatives and healthy snacks, either as part of the SMHSS or to inform the development of the SMS.

The Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme

The SMHSS was launched on 1 August 2021, replacing the UK Nursery Milk Scheme (NMS) under the Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2021. Aligned with the Scottish Ministers' goal of enhancing child health, the SMHSS encourages positive dietary habits from an early age, promoting regular consumption of quality dairy or non-dairy alternatives and fresh fruits/vegetables. ^[2]

Eligible childcare settings which are registered with the Care Inspectorate and have registered for SMHSS, receive agreed funding via local authorities to provide cow’s milk (or, where children cannot drink cow’s milk, a specified alternative) and a portion of fruit or vegetables to all pre-school children who are in registered day care for 2 hours or more.^[3]

Payments are made to eligible childcare settings which have registered with their local authority and are open equally to all regulated childcare settings, whether or not they provide Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) funded places.

The SMHSS provides funding for:

• the provision of 189mls (1/3 pint) (or 200mls where supplied in containers of that size only) of plain fresh cow’s milk (whole milk for children aged 1 year; semi-skimmed can be offered alongside whole for ages 2 and over), 189mls first infant formula for children under 12 months; or
• where children cannot consume cow’s milk for medical, ethical or religious reasons 189mls (1/3 pint) (or 200mls where supplied in containers of that size only) of plain, fresh, goat or sheep milk should be provided; or
• where children cannot consume cow, goat or sheep milk, for medical, ethical or religious reasons, the provision of 189mls (or 200mls where supplied in containers of that size only) of an unsweetened, liquid, calcium enriched non-dairy alternative drink can be provided; and
• in addition to milk or a specified alternative, a healthy snack item (a serving of fresh fruit or vegetables) for children over six months old.^[4]

The SMHSS covers regulated childcare settings, irrespective of ELC funding. Local authorities play a pivotal role by administering upfront funding to registered pre-school day care including childminders, for the purchase of milk, non-dairy alternatives, and healthy snacks. Following the outcome of a judicial review^[5][6] a national rate of 58.2p per eligible child per day is available, this rate applies regardless of type of setting or local authority.

The Scottish School Milk Scheme

All 32 local authorities in Scotland have the authority to establish school milk schemes based on their local needs and priorities. Each authority is responsible for designing and implementing their own schemes, resulting in various approaches. Some authorities offer free milk to certain categories for example by age or stage of education, some subsidise milk for some or all groups while charging others.

Local authorities that provide school milk schemes can also receive support through the UK School Milk Subsidy scheme, formerly known as the EU School Milk Subsidy scheme. 17 local authorities are currently registered to claim for this subsidy. Responding to a commitment from Scottish Ministers, a new Scottish School Milk Scheme is in development. This policy aims to provide funding to allow local authorities to offer local school milk schemes in their primary and special schools from August 2024. Gathering information on existing local authority school milk schemes will be helpful for shaping this new scheme.

To ensure inclusivity for pupils who don't consume dairy milk, the upcoming scheme will include non-dairy alternative options. By examining existing practices and consumption trends related to milk substitutes, the forthcoming SMS intends to provide funding for school milk provision that caters to a wider range of needs.

Methodology

Diffley Partnership were contracted to carry out the data collection. Data presented in this report was collected through a combination of online forms developed in partnership with Scottish Government.

For the SMHSS three forms were issued:

• Local authorities: Issued to all 32 local authorities in Scotland^[7]
• Settings: Issued to ELC settings from a Care Inspectorate database of daycare of children, childminding services (and any other services that are registered with the scheme) that had previously received funding and had therefore been registered for the SMHSS. Some settings indicated they were no longer participating with the SMHSS. A total of 2,884 ELC settings received this invitation once invalid email addresses were removed.^[8]
• Suppliers: Issued to settings and local authorities identified suppliers and they were then contacted to provide a return. In total 11 suppliers were contacted and two returned a response. ^[9]

For local authority school milk schemes each local authority was issued with a form. It is important to note that some local authorities reported that they do not operate a scheme.

Presentation and interpretation of findings

For both SMHSS and SMS data was returned by suppliers via an online form administered by Diffley Partnership. This data has been analysed and presented throughout this report to give an overview of the operations of each of the schemes and costs associated with the schemes. Data is reported as submitted by respondents and therefore any errors in submitted returns are the responsibility of those submitting the return. Where there are outliers or responses that are not valid due to other responses this data has been omitted.

Furthermore, many settings and local authorities were not able to provide data as it was either not being recorded systematically or held centrally. Going forward, it would be advisable that Scottish Government considers the information that participants should be required to hold centrally as part of their participation in the scheme to aid such data collection efforts.

Where region is discussed, local authorities are broken down in the following way:

• Aberdeen and North East: Aberdeen city, Aberdeenshire, Moray,
• Highlands and Islands: Argyll and Bute, Na h-Eileanan Siar, Highland, Orkney, Shetland,
• Tayside, Central and Fife: Angus, Clackmannanshire, Dundee City, Falkirk, Fife, Perth and Kinross, Stirling,
• Edinburgh and Lothians: City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian,
• Glasgow and Strathclyde: East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow City, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire,
• Scotland South: Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish Borders.