Primary school meals, spending and menu options: FOI response

Information requested

Your request asked us to provide information in relation to the following four points:

1.In relation to each primary school in Scotland, how much is spent per pupil, per day on the school meals supplied to primary 1 to primary 3 pupils and those eligible for free school meals?

2.How much has been spent per year for the last five years on primary school meals in Scotland?

3.How many vegan and vegetarian options are there in schools?

4.Are there examples of current menus served to pupils?

Response

The answers to your questions are:

1.The following link contains financial information for 2017-18 in relation to school meals provision. Please refer to LFR 01 - Education (line 60), this provides a ‘cost per school meal’ for primary schools, please note this is an average for all primary schools in Scotland - both free and paid for. The Scottish Government does not hold any further breakdown. https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Local-Government- Finance/PubScottishLGFStats/LFRworkbooks2017-18.

 Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

2.The sums spent on primary school meals over the last five years is provided in the table below.

You will note the amounts spent on primary school meals increased to a peak in 2015-16, before beginning to fall slightly in more recent years. This is reflected by the number of pupils who have been taking school meals, which peaked in 2016.

This information is contained within a summary of the number of pupils taking school meals, both free and paid for, and this summary is available through the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/summary-statistics-attainment-leaver-destinations-healthy-living-8- 2018-edition/pages/6/. 

Year	Gross expenditure on School Meals in Primary School £ millions
2013-14	£99.7
2014-15	£105.6
2015-16	£123.8
2016-17	£119.7
2017-18	£118.9

 In respect of points 3 and 4, regarding vegan and vegetarian school meal options and example menus, this information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.Local authorities provide details about school lunch menus on their websites, and all Scottish local authority websites can be accessed directly through the following page: http://www.cosla.gov.uk/councils.

 This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested.

 Should you wish any further information in respect of these points, over and above the information which is available on their websites, I would recommend you contact the local authorities directly.

 

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.