School Healthy Living Survey statistics 2022

Information from an annual survey carried out in February each year of all publicly funded schools in Scotland on registration for free school meals, uptake of school meals (both free and paid for) and PE.


Chapter 1: School meals

Background

In 2012, a new Healthy Living Survey (HLS) was introduced which incorporated the old school meals survey and new questions on Physical Education. This is an annual survey, normally collected in February each year, from all publicly funded schools in Scotland. The school meal part of this survey collects information on the uptake of meals, both free and paid for, and registration for free school meals. Only meals taken at lunchtime are included; breakfast clubs are not included. The survey was conducted in the week beginning 21 February 2022.

Information on levels of free school meal registration and school meal uptake is used to monitor the impact of Scottish Government policies on reducing deprivation and promoting healthy eating, and has been used to distribute funding to local authorities. In January 2015, the Government extended free school meal eligibility to include all children in primary 1-3. This was extended again to include primary 4 in August 2021 and further extended to include primary 5 from January 2022.[1]

Other sources of data on school meals

Registrations for free school meals are collected as part of the school pupil census undertaken in September of each year. This data has been quality assured and published since the 2018 pupil census and should now be considered the primary source of data on free school meal registrations. National and local authority level data is available in the pupil census supplementary tables. School level data is available in the school level summary statistics.Details on comparability between the healthy living survey and pupil census free school meals data is included in the background notes.

Data on the number of free and paid for school meals taken over a financial year is collected by the Scottish Government as part of a collection of finance data from local authorities. The data is released as background data for the local government finance statistics in the education data workbook LFR01.

Free school meals as a measure of deprivation

As the national criteria for free school meal eligibility is largely based on the receipt of benefits, statistics on free school meal registrations from the Healthy Living Survey have been used as a measure of deprivation. However, several factors need to be taken into account when using the statistics in this way, particularly for primary and special schools where a substantial proportion of those registered qualify through non-benefits based criteria. See background notes for more information on the use of these statistics as a measure of deprivation.

An alternative to using the percentage of pupils registered for free school meals as a measure of deprivation are statistics on the number of pupils in each school who live in the 20 per cent most deprived data zones in Scotland, available in the school level summary statistics. SIMD is the Scottish Government's primary measure of deprivation in relation to educational attainment and performance.

Key Findings

Chart 1: Percentage of pupils registered for free school meals by sector, 2016 to 2022

Line chart showing the percentage of pupils registered for free school meals at different educational stages.
Secondary is lowest, ranging from 14% to 16% up to 2020, then increasing to 19% in 2022.
P4-P7 (for 2016-2020) / P6-P7 (for 2022) ranges from 16% to 20% in 2016-2020, increasing to 21% in 2022.
Special schools have an overall increasing trend from 56% in 2016 up to 78% in 2022.
The total for all stages is level at around 38% from 2016 to 2020, then increses to 52% in 2022.

(a) In August 2018, Glasgow City Council introduced a local initiative extending free school meals to all P4 pupils. All pupils in P1-P5 are eligible for free school meals from January 2022.

Note: no school meals data was collected in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2022, 51.9 per cent of the total school roll was registered for free school meals. This is substantially higher than the 38.1 per cent registered in 2020. Free school meal registration rates are affected by the economic circumstances of pupils and their parents, and also changes to the eligibility criteria. The most influential changes to eligibility criteria since 2015 have been the extension of national universal provision of FSM up to include P4 and P5 pupils in 2022[2], the increased proportion of special schools reporting 100% registration due to their universal provision of FSM and the introduction of universal eligibility to all P4 pupils in Glasgow City in August 2018.

Chart 2: Percentage of pupils present taking school meals, 2022

Stacked bar chart showing the proportions of pupils present on the survey day who took a free meal, paid meal or no meal, by educational stage.
P1-P5 shows 68% free meal, 0% paid meal and 32% no meal.
P6-P7 shows 13% free meal, 25% paid meal and 62% no meal.
Secondary show 10% free meal, 26% paid meal and 64% no meal.
Special schools shows 57% free meal, 7% paid meal and 36% no meal.
All pupils shows 35% free meal, 15% paid meal and 50% no meal.

The percentage of pupils present on the survey day who took a meal (free or paid for) supplied by the school decreased from 53.3 per cent in 2020 to 49.9 per cent in 2022. This decrease was driven by a reduction in the percentage of secondary and special school pupils present and taking a meal. Although the overall percentage of pupils in primary school that were present and took a meal increased slightly, the proportion present and taking a meal decreased in universally entitled stages (P1-P3 in 2020, P1-P5 in 2022) and also in the non-universally entitled stages (P4-P7 in 2020 and P6 and P7 in 2022).

Additional data

School meals data by local authority, Urban Rural classification and size of school are available in the supplementary tables. School level information on school meals is also available.

Table 1a: Number and percentage of pupils taking school meals (free or paid for) and registered for and taking free school meals by sector, 2016 to 2022
  Number
  2016 2017 2018a,b 2019c,d 2020b,c 2022c,d
Pupils registered for free meals
Primary 212,175 212,235 210,906 214,353 213,863 300,765
Secondary 39,280 38,841 39,511 41,881 44,502 55,454
Special 3,681 4,155 4,506 4,608 5,281 5,902
Total 255,136 255,231 254,923 260,842 263,646 362,121
Pupils registered and present taking free meals
Primary 166,454 165,027 160,323 160,539 155,258 186,965
Secondary 24,811 23,911 23,937 24,287 25,217 24,464
Special 2,899 3,418 3,466 3,448 4,131 3,624
Total 194,164 192,356 187,726 188,274 184,606 215,053
Pupils present and taking meals (free or paid for)
Primary 246,821 246,162 237,315 230,271 222,005 212,838
Secondary 114,586 110,288 110,364 112,722 112,816 90,225
Special 4,511 4,375 4,663 4,371 5,005 4,047
Total 365,918 360,825 352,342 347,364 339,826 307,110
Percentage
  2016 2017 2018a,b 2019c,d 2020b,c 2022c,d
Pupils registered for free meals
Primary 54.1 53.4 52.7 53.5 53.6 76.8
Secondary 14.2 14.1 14.4 15.0 15.6 18.6
Special 55.7 66.2 66.1 66.9 73.7 77.9
Total 37.8 37.6 37.4 38.0 38.1 51.9
Pupils registered and present taking free meals
Primary 82.7 82.1 80.5 79.2 76.9 68.3
Secondary 73.9 73.4 72.8 70.9 70.9 59.5
Special 89.8 91.3 87.1 85.1 86.8 73.7
Total 81.5 81.0 79.6 78.1 76.2 67.2
Pupils present and taking meals (free or paid for)
Primary 66.0 65.0 62.4 60.4 58.6 59.5
Secondary 45.8 44.3 44.6 45.2 44.6 35.9
Special 77.7 78.0 77.8 72.4 77.4 63.9
Total 58.1 56.9 55.6 54.5 53.3 49.9

a. In August 2019, the 2018 figures for Edinburgh and North Lanarkshire were corrected. PE data was not affected. See section 3.3 background notes for this publication for further details.

b. In August 2018, Glasgow City Council introduced a local initiative extending free school meals to all P4 pupils.

c. Figures for 2018-2022 exclude Jordanhill. See section 3.3 background notes for this publication for further details.

d. The Scottish Government extended free school meals eligibility to all P4 pupils in August 2021 and to all P5 pupils in January 2022.

Table 1b: Primary pupils taking school meals (free or paid for) and registered for and taking free school meals by sector, 2016 to 2022
  Number
  2016 2017 2018a,b 2019c,d 2020b,c 2022c,d
Pupils registered for free meals
P1-P3 (2015-2020) / P1-P5 (2022) 172,912 173,020 172,163 169,931 167,838 275,954
P4-P7 (2015-2020) / P6-P7 (2022) 39,263 39,215 38,743 44,422 46,025 24,811
Total Primary (P1-P7) 212,175 212,235 210,906 214,353 213,863 300,765
Pupils registered and present taking free meals
P1-P3 (2015-2020) / P1-P5 (2022) 134,667 134,042 130,201 127,888 120,977 172,869
P4-P7 (2015-2020) / P6-P7 (2022) 31,787 30,985 30,122 32,651 34,381 14,096
Total Primary (P1-P7) 166,454 165,027 160,323 160,539 155,358 186,965
Pupils present and taking meals (free or paid for)
P1-P3 (2015-2020) / P1-P5 (2022) 134,667 134,042 130,201 127,888 120,977 172,869
P4-P7 (2015-2020) / P6-P7 (2022) 112,154 112,120 107,114 102,383 101,128 39,969
Total Primary (P1-P7) 246,821 246,162 237,315 230,271 222,105 212,838
Percentage
  2016 2017 2018a,b 2019c,d 2020b,c 2022c,d
Pupils registered for free meals
P1-P3 (2015-2020) / P1-P5 (2022) 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
P4-P7 (2015-2020) / P6-P7 (2022) 17.9 17.5 17.0 19.3 19.9 21.5
Total Primary (P1-P7) 54.1 53.4 52.7 53.5 53.6 76.8
Pupils registered and present taking free meals
P1-P3 (2015-2020) / P1-P5 (2022) 81.7 81.2 79.6 79.0 75.7 68.4
P4-P7 (2015-2020) / P6-P7 (2022) 87.3 86.2 84.9 79.9 81.4 66.2
Total Primary (P1-P7) 82.7 82.1 80.5 79.2 76.9 68.3
Pupils present and taking meals (free or paid for)
P1-P3 (2015-2020) / P1-P5 (2022) 81.7 81.2 79.6 79.0 75.7 68.4
P4-P7 (2015-2020) / P6-P7 (2022) 53.7 52.4 49.5 46.7 46.2 38.1
Total Primary (P1-P7) 66.0 65.0 62.4 60.4 58.6 59.5

a. In August 2019, the 2018 figures for Edinburgh and North Lanarkshire were corrected. PE data was not affected. See section 3.3 background notes for this publication for further details.

b. In August 2018, Glasgow City Council introduced a local initiative extending free school meals to all P4 pupils. c. Figures for 2018-2022 exclude Jordanhill. See section 3.3 background notes for this publication for further details. d. The Scottish Government extended free school meals eligibility to all P4 pupils in August 2021 and to all P5 pupils in January 2022.

Contact

Email: school.stats@gov.scot

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