Free school meals must be targeted att hose who need it most - Smith (North Tayside Liberal Democrats)

North Tayside Liberal Democrats <info@libdems.org.uk>

Free school meals must be targeted att hose who need it most - Smith

June 24, 2009 9:47 AM
Originally published by Scottish Liberal Democrats

Commenting on Scottish Government figures showing an overall reduction in the number of people taking up school meals in Scotland as well as a reduction in the number of pupils actually registered for free school meals, Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson Margaret Smith MSP said:

"These figures highlight the problems that local authorities in Scotland continue to have in actually identifying those who are entitled to free school meals.

"They also show that after extensive promotion from Ministers the number of pupils actually taking up free school meals across Scotland has continued to fall.

"This is a clear signal that rolling out universal free school meals across Scotland is not the best way to tackle the problem of poor diet amongst our children.

"We need a targeted approach that makes sure those pupils who are most in need are the one who benefit from this policy.

"Ministers must also target resources into raising the number of pupils entitled to free school meals who actual register for the scheme."

Ends.