Dear Constituent,
Thank you for contacting me about free school meals.
As you may know, this policy area is devolved to the Scottish Parliament so is the responsibility of the Scottish Government. It is more important than ever that every young person gets the opportunity to do well in life, so I welcome calls from my MSP colleagues at Holyrood to allow every primary school child to access a free school lunch and breakfast.
Under their plan, primary school pupils in P4 to P7 would join those in P1-3 in being able to get a free school lunch, and all primary school pupils would be able to get a free breakfast. Expanding the entitlement to free school lunches would benefit over 180,000 children and introducing free school breakfasts would benefit almost 400,000.
It is important to remember that free school meals are not a general welfare measure. They are aimed at providing healthy meals for children in school to ensure disadvantaged students can learn to the best of their ability. I believe that the best way to support families all year round is through Universal Credit, rather than the Government subsidising meals for families in their own homes.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
Kind regards, Alister