Chamber and committees

The committee will understand the role of the Scottish Funding Council in this, and that the Government is unable to direct funding in this space. We have to do that under the auspices of the SFC, as set out in the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005.

The total ask from the university was £22 million. The Government has made £25 million available, as Mr Rennie knows, which is £15 million through the budget and an additional £10 million of capital that I announced more recently, so that funding gap has been met.

As I understand it, there were negotiations about the amount required as part of the budget process and from financial transactions at that time. I do not think there should be any surprise, because the ask of £22 million has been met by the £15 million in the budget and the additional £10 million that I announced.

I would need to check back on that, convener. From memory, at that point in February, the total number had not been communicated to us as ministers because the draft FRP had not been shared with us, and it is the draft FRP that sets out the quantum of job losses.

Good morning, and thank you for inviting me to discuss the draft Social Security Information-sharing (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025.

The regulations will, if approved, establish a legal gateway for the sharing of certain data between Social Security Scotland and Scottish local authorities, for the purposes of providing free school meals to pupils in primary 6 and 7 whose families are in receipt of the Scottish child payment and of providing certain data to support the test of change in secondary 1 to secondary 3 on the basis of being in receipt of Scottish child payment. That step is essential in supporting local authorities to maximise uptake in the next phase of delivery of the free school meals programme to those in receipt of SCP in primaries 6 and 7.

For members’ clarity, the information that would be shared will be: the child’s name; the dates of birth of the child and of their parents or carers; the names of parents or carers; their contact details, including their address; and their national insurance numbers. Those details are to be shared only in order to confirm, within each local authority area, which pupils are entitled to free school meals as a result of their parents and carers being in receipt of the Scottish child payment.

We know that the current practice and legal framework are acting as barriers to some families obtaining free school meals, hence the legal change we seek to make. For example, we are aware that the City of Edinburgh Council has written to more than 7,000 parents whose children may be eligible for free school meals but, to date, has received only 401 applications.

Therefore, if approved, the regulations will enable local authorities to proactively offer free school meals and thereby maximise the number of children who are able to access nutritious meals. As a result of that new legal gateway, there would be a significant improvement, which we estimate will benefit up to 25,000 children and their families across Scotland.

The regulations also allow for the same data to be shared for pupils in S1 to S3. Members will be aware that we have agreed to a further phase of the programme as part of the budget process, and this test of change phase will support those whose families are in receipt of Scottish child payment in S1 to S3 in eight local authority areas. The inclusion of those year groups in the regulations, if passed, will ensure that the participating local authorities can access the data that they need to allow eligible pupils to access free meals from August.

Social Security Scotland and my officials have liaised with the office of the Scottish Information Commissioner to ensure that the proposed data-sharing arrangement complies with data protection law, including in relation to data minimisation and proportionality. We have also completed equality and child’s rights impact assessments and the necessary operational data protection impact assessment is under way. The assessments found that there would be positive impacts on the rights and wellbeing of children, through the provision of support for healthy eating habits and potential improvements in educational attainment.

I thank members for their consideration of this important legislation and my officials and I will be happy to answer any questions.

It is not my job, as cabinet secretary, to comment on the views of the children’s commissioner. The committee will hear from her shortly. However, the Parliament voted for a budget that commits the Government to expanding free school meals to those in receipt of the Scottish child payment. You and your party voted against the budget, but the SSI—

As the committee knows, the liquidity support allows the university to continue, but it does not bring the job loss number down. We need to work with the SFC on next steps in that regard, while remembering and respecting the independence of that institution. I am mindful of Office for National Statistics classification in all of this, and we need to be careful about that.

On Mr Rennie’s point, we have met the liquidity request. We are open, as a Government, to working with the SFC on any further requests. None has thus far been made. However, we expect an alteration to be made to the draft FRP, because, as the committee heard two weeks ago from the interim principal, the university is looking at alternatives. When that alteration comes forward, the Government will consider what further support we can provide under the auspices of the SFC. We will be completely transparent with the committee on how we do that. We need to be really careful about ONS classification in all of this.

This is a challenging time for the University of Dundee and for the city of Dundee. Yesterday’s reports will not have helped. It is the Government’s job in this situation to help support the university and its staff—all the people who work there—and its students. We are absolutely committed to doing that and will continue to engage with all those people.

Excuse me?

The budget, as negotiated, commits the Government to the delivery of free school meals for primary 6 and 7 children in receipt of the Scottish child payment. It also commits us to further work on the test of change projects for secondary 1 to 3 pupils. You and your party voted against the budget. Today’s regulations will allow us to deliver on the budget that was passed by the Parliament. You are suggesting that the Government is not listening to the will of Parliament, but I am advancing the will of Parliament in that regard.

However, I accept the point about universal free school meals. The financial challenge that the Government faces is well known to the committee. I have talked about the budget gap in relation to the £256 million of investment that is required for universality. That budget line has not been updated for two years, so I am unable to give you a firm date today regarding universality, but I will continue to work across the chamber on the delivery of universality, because it is so important.

We talk about child poverty and about some of the impacts that have been borne by children in our schools. I hope that Mr Ross will also reflect on the impact that austerity has had on our children and their educational attainment in recent years. Some of the impacts on the Scottish Government’s budget have been caused by decisions that have been made by Governments elsewhere, including those made by his party.

I do not think that there is disagreement today—

You have repeatedly interrupted me, convener.

Convener, as I have set out, the modelling that the Government last undertook on that is two years old—