Question reference: S6W-09471
- Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 8 July 2022
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Current status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 22 August 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the number of pupils in the East Kilbride constituency who will (a) benefit from and (b) be included in the roll-out of the provision of universal free school meals to all children in primaries 1 to 5 in the coming academic year, and whether it will provide an estimate of the average saving per family.
Answer
Information on the number of children receiving free school meals, broken down by parliamentary constituency, is not available. The Pupil Census of 2021 reported there were 274,938 children in primaries 1 to 5 at all schools across Scotland, and 17,482 of those were registered with schools managed by South Lanarkshire Council.
Free school lunches are available to all children in primaries 1 to 5 during school term-time, therefore all children within this age group are automatically registered to receive them if they wish. We estimate that providing free school meals will save families around £400 per child, per year on average.