Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S4W-19801

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many school rolls there are that exceed the seating capacity of their canteens.

Question reference: S4W-19808

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many primary schools have kitchen facilities that are only suitable for heating already prepared meals, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S4W-19812

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what the average cost of a school meal is, broken down by local authority.

The following table shows average expenditure per school meal by local authorities in Scotland in financial year 2012-13:

Local Authority	Average expenditure per school meal (£:p)
Aberdeen City	2.56
Aberdeenshire	3.20
Angus	2.25
Argyll and Bute	4.13
Clackmannanshire	2.30
Dumfries and Galloway	3.63
Dundee City	2.47
East Ayrshire	2.88
East Dunbartonshire	2.42
East Lothian	2.77
East Renfrewshire	2.81
Edinburgh, City of	2.31
Eilean Siar	4.05
Falkirk	2.27
Fife	3.08
Glasgow City	2.68
Highland	3.43
Inverclyde	2.60
Midlothian	3.31
Moray	3.47
North Ayrshire	3.50
North Lanarkshire	2.53
Orkney Islands	5.44
Perth and Kinross	2.14
Renfrewshire	2.37
Scottish Borders	2.45
Shetland Islands	4.74
South Ayrshire	3.54
South Lanarkshire	2.26
Stirling	3.71
West Dunbartonshire	4.72
West Lothian	2.70
Scotland - average	2.86

Question reference: S4W-19798

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether free school meals will be allowed to be consumed in classrooms.

School food services across Scotland are designed to suit local and school needs and these vary widely in terms of methods of food preparation, distribution and menu choice. However delivered, the aim should be to optimise the service for quality, food safety and efficiency and ensure that the food served meets the nutritional requirements set out in the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2008.

In preparing to deliver the option of a free school meal to children in primary 1 to 3, schools and local authorities will need to consider the implications for the current school meals service arrangements, any flexibility within these arrangements and any opportunity this may afford to make further improvements.

However, local authorities will not be expected to do this in isolation. The Scottish Government has committed to work in partnership with COSLA over the next year to explore how any practical implications will be addressed, building on the experience of the free school meal trial for primary 1 to 3 pupils which ran over 2007-08.

Question reference: S4W-19797

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many primary schools have no canteen, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S4W-19804

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government for how many primary schools the catering has been outsourced, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S4W-19806

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what advice it will give to primary schools and teachers in the event that not all children are able to eat in the school canteen.

Question reference: S4W-19802

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many catering staff are employed in primary schools, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S4W-19809

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many primary schools have no kitchen facilities, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S4W-19810

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provides on the nutritional value of meals provided in schools.

In 2008 the Scottish Government published Healthy Eating in Schools to accompany the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2008 which sets high standards for food and drink in schools. This guidance, which can be accessed on the Scottish Government website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/09/12090355/0, explains the nutritional requirements to help those involved in providing food and drink in schools implement the regulations.