Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government intends to achieve the required Aberdeen to Central Belt project outputs by the end of 2026.

I am advised by my officials in Transport Scotland that the finalisation of the Single Option is being revised by Network Rail to ensure alignment with wider improvements proposed for the Aberdeen-Central Belt route, including future electrification. I expect an update from Transport Scotland on this matter imminently.

Local authorities and schools are required to ensure that all food and drink served in schools meets the nutritional standards set out in The Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020. Further information about nutritional standards is available in our Healthy Eating in Schools guidance which is available on the Scottish Government's website through the following web link: Healthy eating in schools: guidance 2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

There is no specific requirement for school meals to be hot although it would be difficult to meet the nutritional standards set out in the Regulations without providing hot options. The Regulations provide flexibility for local authority school caterers to design menus which meet local needs and circumstances. This would allow for example, more hot choices to be offered during the colder winter months and more cold options during warmer months.

All local authorities are under a statutory duty to have regard to any guidance, such as ‘Better Eating, Better Learning’, issued by Scottish Ministers on the application of the principles of sustainable development when providing food or drink or catering services in schools. Local authorities, supported by Scotland Excel, remain committed to using local and sustainable produce in school catering wherever possible. It is up to each local authority to decide what produce, including organic, to use in their catering services, taking into account local needs, priorities and circumstances.

Section 53 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 provides that local authorities must provide, or secure the provision of, a school lunch free of charge to pupils who meet the eligibility criteria set out within that Act. The national eligibility criteria for free school meals is available through the following web link: School meals - mygov.scot.

In addition to this, free school lunches are available to all children in primaries 1 to 5 and in special schools. This applies to all schools either run by a local authority or which are directly funded through a Scottish Government grant. This policy is not set out in legislation and is delivered through a joint agreement between the Scottish Government and local authorities.

Local authorities also have the flexibility to make discretionary offers of free school meals to children and young people from families who do not meet the national eligibility criteria where they are experiencing financial hardship due to exceptional circumstances. There is nothing within legislation to say when such discretionary offers should be made, since we believe that local authorities should be given the maximum flexibility to consider each approach based upon its own individual circumstances.

The member is right to focus on how we are driving sustainable, inclusive economic growth in Scotland by requiring grant recipients to pay at least the real Living Wage and provide appropriate channels for effective voice. This will take further the conditionality that we have already applied to £4bn of public funding since 2019.

As long as they act lawfully it is up to each council to manages day to day business, allocate resources. Scottish Ministers have no general powers to direct a council how to use its funding. Councils are best placed to determine how Fair Work conditionality can be applied to local priorities, with delivery monitored within their normal funding and contract management arrangements.

Although local government funding is provided through grant in aid rather than direct grant, and will not be subject to Bute House conditionality, the Scottish Government asks local government to build on the shared commitment made in June 2021 by local authority Chief Officers to adopting Fair Work First. As such, we have asked COSLA and local government to consider how the new real Living Wage and effective voice conditionality can be applied to grants they award, and take action to initiate this.

Ministers have engaged regularly with COSLA, setting out the Scottish Government’s expectation that councils, alongside the wider public sector, lead the way on Fair Work. The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government and Cabinet Secretary for Finance wrote to COSLA in September 2021 making clear that pay and effective voice are cornerstones of Fair Work. My officials have had regular discussions with COSLA representatives on Fair Work, and in November 2022, I met with COSLA’s resources spokesperson to discuss Fair Work and highlight this new conditionality. I also wrote to COSLA and local authority leaders on 9 December to outline the new conditionality measures being introduced to Fair Work First from July 2023, and and to reiterate the important role for the public sector in making Scotland a leading Fair Work nation.