Current status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Scottish National Party’s 2021 election manifesto pledge to provide free breakfasts to every primary school pupil, how many primary school pupils are not yet in receipt of a free breakfast at school.
Breakfasts in Scotland are currently being delivered through a range of provisions, including Scottish Government, Local Authority and schools funded services as well as private and third sector services. Mapping carried out by the Improvement Service in 2024 demonstrates that almost 50% of primary schools in Scotland already deliver a breakfast offer.
This builds on our Programme for Government 2021 commitment to “develop plans to deliver free breakfasts to all primary and special school children and to start pilot provision.
The school age childcare Programme has invested in delivery of funded breakfast clubs, after school clubs, and holiday clubs across this Parliamentary term to learn and understand what parents need to support work, and what children need to thrive with a strong focus on tackling poverty.
In 2025-26, we invested £3 million in our Bright Start Breakfasts fund which is currently supporting 20,000 children access breakfast across 490 clubs. In our 2026-27 Scottish Budget, we confirmed that we will continue to invest in the Bright Start Breakfasts Fund for delivery across the 2026-27 academic year.
As part of that delivery we will provide an additional £15 million in 2026-27 to expand breakfast club provision and help schools, councils and third sector partners prepare for the introduction of a national breakfast club offer. Further, from 2027-28, we will invest £44 million each year to ensure that there is a free breakfast club universally available to all children in primary and special schools across Scotland from August 2027.