FOI Request - School Meals

Request 101002543517

I am writing to request some information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. The information relates to the money provided by the Scottish Government to fund free school meals for children over the summer break. My requests are as follows:

1. How much, in total, was your local authority allocated by the Scottish Government to continue free school meals over the summer holidays?
2. Has the government provided any advice or guidance on the content or free school meals, for example, whether the support should be given in cash, vouchers or food, and whether nutritional requirements/ healthy eating guidance should be adhered to in providing support?
3. If the Scottish Government has provided any guidance, please provide copies of any guidance received
4. Please specify whether your local authority is providing vouchers, cash or food parcels for children receiving free school meals over the summer holidays
5. If your authority is providing cash, please provide the amount of cash provided to each child for free school meals per week
6. If your authority is providing vouchers, please provide me with;
•  the value of the voucher provided,
• a list of the retailers who accept the vouchers,
• information on whether the vouchers must be spent all at once,
• or whether there is a minimum spend threshold in retailers - for example, would a person spending £8.50 in vouchers receive change from the retailer if the total value of the voucher was £10
7. If your authority is providing food packages, please provide me with the cost of each package to the authority
8. If your authority is providing food packages, please provide a list of the foods included the food packages
9. If your authority is providing food packages, please provide a list of the suppliers of the food provided in the food packages
10. If your authority is providing food packages please provide details of any special dietary information requested and taken into account in supplying food packages - for example, are allergies, religious requirements taken into account.

Response 29-07-2020

1. £159,000

2.   Yes – see below

3. 

" To provide free school meals to children of key workers attending educational or early years settings.

• To provide free school meals to eligible children and young people attending educational or early years settings.

• To provide a free school meal alternative – direct cash payment, voucher or home delivery of food – to all eligible children and young people in P1-S6.

• To enable newly eligible families who meet the qualifying criteria for free school meals to apply for a free school meal provision.

• To promote the availability of free school meals to the families of all eligible children and young people.
• This funding is not being provided to enable universal provision of free school meals to all children in P1-P3. "

4. Moray Council is issuing voucher codes to the value of £25 per fortnight which can be redeemed for a shopping voucher

5. N/A

6. Moray Council is issuing voucher codes to the value of £25 per fortnight which can be redeemed for a shopping voucher at Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s or Morrisons. If the recipient does not spend the entire £25 the balance would remain on their voucher until their next spend.

7. Questions 7-10 do not apply for us – we are not providing food packages for free school meals.