Councillors reject free meals for nursery pupils

OIC councillors have rejected a proposal to provide free school meals for nursery children.

At a meeting yesterday, Wednesday, members of the council’s education, leisure and housing committee heard that an increase in the entitlement to pre-school and nursery care hours had resulted in a requirement for midday meals for a small number of children, currently 125 per week.

Although these meals are currently charged at the same rate as meals for primary pupils, a Scottish Government initiative will provide free school meals for pupils in primaries one to three from January next year.

The proposal before the committee was to extend the free meals to nursery children at a cost of £9,975 in 2015/16, to be met by the existing school meals budget which is currently underspent by approximately £46,000.

However, councillors voted five to four in favour of OIC convener Steven Heddle’s suggestion — continuing to charge nursery pupils £2 a meal, with the exception of those who would otherwise be entitled to free school meals due to other reasons.

The committee’s decision will go forward for consideration at next month’s meeting of the full council.