Child poverty campaigners and Scotland’s largest teaching union have hit out at comments from Scotland’s first minister that indicate he no longer plans to roll out universal free school meals.
Humza Yousaf instead said he favours targeting support at “those that need it absolutely the most”.
The EIS teaching union general secretary, Andrea Bradley, said the comments were “hugely surprising”, given recent government rhetoric on poverty.
Mr Yousaf is hosting an anti-poverty summit today in Edinburgh and said during the SNP leadership campaign that tackling poverty would be his top priority.
Ms Bradley said reneging on the universal free school meals commitment would be “a massive and profoundly damaging mistake, which would betray young people living in poverty across Scotland”.
She said providing universal free school meals was “a no-brainer” if the government was serious about combating poverty. She added that Mr Yousaf’s comments contradicted what education secretary Jenny Gilruth had told the Scottish Parliament just last week.
Last month, the Scottish government set out its priorities for the three remaining years of this parliamentary term. In her list of education priorities, Ms Gilruth committed to “expanded free school meal provision”.
Ms Gilruth said in Parliament last Thursday that - although the rollout of free school meals had already taken place for all P1-5 pupils - the government needed “to go further”.
She said the government remained “committed to delivering a pilot of universal free school meals in secondary schools” and would “continue to work closely with key delivery partners on our free school meals expansion programme”.
However, Ms Bradley described the targeted approach to free school meals suggested today by Mr Yousaf as a “19th-century mode of provision” that is “not in the interest of children and young people in a 21st-century environment”.
She said that targeted support resulted in “many children” falling through the cracks, while stigma also put children and families off claiming the entitlement.
John Dickie, director of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland, described Mr Yousaf’s comments as “really concerning”.
Mr Dickie had hoped that today’s anti-poverty summit - which he was about to enter when he spoke to Tes Scotland -- would build on existing commitments, not reverse them.
Before the summit, the Scottish government said it would be making a £4.5 million investment in after-school and holiday clubs.
However, in an interview with the Daily Record published this morning, Mr Yousaf also said that he favoured taking a targeted approach to poverty.
He is quoted as saying: “I’ve got a 14-year-old now. Should people be paying for her free school meals when I earn a first minister’s salary?
“I don’t think that’s the right way to use that money. I think the better way to use the money is to target it to those that need it absolutely the most.”
Ms Bradley said that the comments indicated “muddled” and “divergent” thinking in the new cabinet.
She said: “In the Scottish Parliament on Thursday afternoon, the education secretary was talking about the value of free school meals provision for families - so that it saves families £400 per eligible child and how vital this is to the life chances of children and young people, including closing the poverty-related attainment gap, improving attendance and reducing the stigma.
“She gave all of those reasons herself so it seems that there is some divergent thinking in the cabinet if the first minister is beginning to deviate from...quite a longstanding policy commitment of the Scottish government, and it seems to seek to unpick lots of the sound rationale for that policy in the first place.”
In its 2021 manifesto, the Scottish government promised to “provide free school breakfasts and lunches to every primary school pupil in Scotland, all year round, and for all children in state-funded special schools”.
It also said it would “pilot the provision of free nutritious school breakfasts in secondary schools” and “explore the feasibility of universal breakfast provision in secondary schools”.
The target date for universal free school meals in primary was August 2022, when P6-7 pupils were to come on board.
The Scottish government failed to deliver on that, saying councils needed more time, but that the extension to P6-7 would happen before the end of this Parliament, in 2026.
Earlier this year it became clear that even by August 2024 most P6-7s would still not be receiving a free school meal, leaving little room for manoeuvre before 2026.
Then education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said that by August 2024, free meals would be extended to pupils in P6-7 in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment as “the next step” in fulfilling the commitment.
Tes Scotland calculated that, in the best-case scenario, around 40 per cent of P6-7s would be able to claim a free school meal by August 2024.
Mr Dickie said: “We were hoping that today’s summit would be focus for building on existing commitments - not rolling back on them. We know a universal approach to free school meals benefits all children and young people and particularly those growing up in poverty - [including] those that lie just outside the current entitlement levels - there are many, many children living in poverty who are still not entitled to a free school meal.”
He added: “Universal approaches have a real role to play in preventing families from falling into poverty as well as lifting children and families out of poverty.”
Labour MSP Monica Lennon, a supporter of free universal school meals, said that a U-turn on the rollout would be “a huge betrayal of Scotland’s children and young people”.
She added that the ”shocking rise in hidden hunger in Scotland’s classrooms...doesn’t stop at the primary school gates”.
