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Bob Doris MSP welcomes Scottish Government announcement on free nutritious school meals |
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Tuesday, 05 June 2007 |
 Calls for first pilot to be in
Glasgow
Bob Doris SNP list MSP for Glasgow has welcomed the announcement of a pilot scheme for free nutritious meals in Primary 1 to 3 in some of the country's most deprived areas. This comes following Bob's call for free nutritious school meals last week during the "wealthier and fairer" debate - his maiden speech.
Now just one week later the new Scottish government has pledged to pilot free nutritious school meals for pupils in primary 1 to 3 in such areas. The trials are expected to cost around £5 million and will begin in selected schools from October onwards, running until March 2008. Ministers will consider extending and rolling out the pilot following the spending review later this year
Bob said:
"I very much welcome our new government's decision to follow through on its manifesto promise regarding free school meals. Last year, over 1,900 cases of malnutrition were identified in hospitals throughout Scotland. In a modern society this is simply unacceptable"
"As I said in Parliament last week "we must use society's wealth to assist in curing society's ill". This is an example of our government taking such action".
"The long term health benefits will be with us long after the short term investment has been made".
"Areas of deprivation exist all across Scotland. However it is an unfortunate fact that Glasgow has absolute grinding poverty and deprivation in some areas as well as the poorest health record in the UK and indeed most of Europe. I therefore call on our Cabinet Secretary Fiona Hyslop to ensure that Glasgow is included in the pilot to be launched this October. This is vital to turn around the fortunes of some of the most vulnerable families and communities in our city".
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