Chamber and committees

I have set out the SSI; we are dancing on the head of a pin.

I agree that our schools work every day not to stigmatise those families who are most in need. They are compelled by legislation to ensure that they do not stigmatise, and I trust that they work in our schools every day to ensure that they do not do so.

If the children’s commissioner or the committee have any examples of children being stigmatised on the issue, I am more than happy to consider those, because that would be a real challenge. I would not want that to be happening in our schools. However, I have not been presented with such evidence in the past two years, and I trust Scotland’s teachers and the staff who work in our schools not to stigmatise. They work tirelessly, every day, in a very caring profession, and I do not think that a stigmatising approach is taken in our schools. I have not witnessed such an approach in recent times.

I do not think that you will be surprised to hear that I do not accept that. The Government’s aspiration for universal free school meals in primary schools remains; I stand by that commitment.

You will have heard extensively, in last year’s debate and in other exchanges in the Parliament, about the unaffordability of delivering such provision during this parliamentary term. Last year’s debate was informed by analysis from the Scottish Futures Trust, which suggested that universality would cost in the region of £256 million. Officials reminded me this morning that that figure is now two years out of date, so we can expect the cost to now be far in excess of £256 million. In the budget and in budget negotiations, we committed to a broader expansion that is focused on those receiving the SCP. If anything, I would argue that the regulations commit us to going more quickly than we otherwise would, because we would give the example—

Mr Ross, I know that you are not here to rubber-stamp all my SSIs. You are here to challenge me. That is your job, and it is your right to do so. I respect that—of course I do.

I have had a lot of discussion and engagement with the university—with the senior management, the trade unions and, last week, the student union. The community of Dundee is very concerned about all this. Mr Rennie and I know, because our constituencies border Dundee over the water, how important the university is to Dundee and the wider economy.

We expect the university to consider alternatives. It is a very challenging time for the University of Dundee in relation to its finances. We have made available that liquidity support, and we are looking at what more we might be able to provide to the university. However, we have not yet had a further ask from the university, and we remain open to such asks.

Very much so. I need to be mindful of what I say here as cabinet secretary.

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.