Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme - Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment

Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment Template

1. Brief Summary

The new Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme will replace current arrangements with the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) from 1 August 2024. The new scheme is designed to remove restrictions associated with the previous scheme and is intended to extend school milk scheme provision and widen access to dairy products for children across Scotland.

Type of proposal

• Decision of a strategic nature relating to the rights and wellbeing of children.

Name the proposal, and describe its overall aims and intended purpose.

The Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme aims to provide all 32 local authorities with a share of £1m funding to be used towards provision of local school milk schemes to support the nutritional needs of children.

Start date of proposal’s development: A commitment to introduce a new Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme was made in 2021.

Start date of CRWIA process: CRWIA considerations have been undertaken since early 2022.

2. With reference given to the requirements of the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024, which aspects of the proposal are relevant to/impact upon children’s rights?

The new Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme is intended to provide direct funding to all Scottish local authorities to allow them to offer a school milk scheme in their local primary and special schools. The scheme therefore has the potential to impact all eligible^[1] children attending a local authority primary or special school.

Similarly to the current Rural Payments Agency scheme, the new scheme has the potential to directly impact all eligible children attending a local authority primary or special school. More eligible children are expected to have access to the new Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme. This scheme is likely to have a positive impact with regards to following Articles of the UNCRC.

The Scottish Government expects all local authorities to ensure that they meet their duties in relation to children’s rights as they develop their school milk schemes and set eligibility criteria.

Article 2 (non-discrimination)

In contrast to the Rural Payments Agency scheme, local authorities will now be permitted to use funding under the Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme to provide non-dairy alternatives for children unable or who choose not to consume dairy milk. This will directly impact any child previously excluded from accessing a non-dairy alternative under their schools local milk scheme.

Article 3 (the best interests of a child)

The Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme provides eligible children with drinks that support their healthy growth and development. All milk provided by local authorities as part of their local school milk schemes using funding under the Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme must comply with the criteria set out in the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020.

Article 6 (life, survival and development of the child)

The Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme provides funding to allow local authorities to provide milk or a non-dairy alternative at a reduced cost to families, helping to ensure children are provided with a nutritious drink as part of their school day contributing to their growth and development.

All milk provided by local authorities as part of their local school milk schemes using funding under the Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme must comply with the criteria set out in the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020. This will help ensure that children are provided with drinks that support their healthy growth and development. In addition, as non-dairy alternatives are also permitted to be funded, allergies and other dietary restrictions are also accounted for.

Article 12 (respect for the views of the child)

The Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme permits funding to be used to offer dairy milk or a non-dairy milk alternative furthering children’s ability to express their views and make choices about what they consume. Additionally, the views of children were sought when developing the Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme. The Scottish Government encourages local authorities to involve children in the development of their local school milk schemes, using funding under the Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme, to ensure local needs and circumstances are considered.

Article 13 (freedom of expression)

The Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme permits funding to be used to offer dairy milk or a non-dairy milk alternative furthering children’s freedom of expression by making choices about what they consume. This will directly benefit children previously unable to participate in a school milk scheme based on their decision not to consume dairy.

Article 14 (freedom of thought, belief and religion)

The Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme permits funding to be used to provide a non-dairy alternative allowing children who choose not to consume dairy on the basis of thought, belief or religion to participate in the scheme.

Article 23 (children with a disability)

The Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme permits funding to be used to provide a non-dairy milk alternative allowing children who are unable to consume dairy for reasons of allergies or other dietary restrictions to participate in the scheme.

Article 24 (health and health services)

The Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme provides eligible children with nutritious drinks that support their healthy growth and development. All milk provided by local authorities as part of their local school milk schemes using funding under the Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme must comply with the criteria set out in the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020. In addition, as non-dairy alternatives are also permitted to be funded, allergies and other dietary restrictions are also accounted for.

Article 27 (adequate standard of living)

The Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme provides funding to allow local authorities to provide milk or a non-dairy alternative at a reduced cost to families, helping to ensure children are provided with a nutritious drink as part of their school day contributing to an adequate standard of living.

3. Please provide a summary of the evidence gathered which will be used to inform your decision-making and the content of the proposal

Evidence from:

• existing research / reports / policy expertise

Data gathered from the Scottish Government statistical publications Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2020-23^[2].

Within the tackling child poverty delivery plan: Best Start, Bright Futures^[3].

A report from Child Poverty Action Group on the cost of the school day^[4].

• consultation / feedback from stakeholders

Local authorities have been engaged throughout from an early stage via COSLA. Muller Wiseman Dairies, National Farmers Union Scotland and School and Nursery Milk Alliance were also engaged with at appropriate stages.

In 2023 the Scottish Government commissioned Diffley partnership to undertake a data collection exercise^[5] designed to gather information about existing school milk schemes across Scotland.

The report on the school milk scheme data collection exercise carried out by Diffley partnership showed that while school milk schemes existed across Scotland, many local authorities were not offering a scheme at all. This position was further supported by evidence collected during discussions with local authority catering colleagues and engagement with COSLA.

• consultation / feedback directly from children and young people

The Children’s Parliament was commissioned in September 2022 to undertake a consultation^[6] on school milk scheme proposals with primary school aged children. The Children’s Parliament worked with over 100 children from P2 to P6 in workshops focusing on the proposal to expand school milk provision.

Key themes emerging included the importance of milk to health, the contribution milk provision can make to children from low income families and the importance of equity.

4. Further to the evidence described at ‘3’ have you identified any 'gaps' in evidence which may prevent determination of impact? If yes, please provide an explanation of how they will be addressed

The data collection exercise carried out by Diffley partnership was unable to gather information about uptake of school milk schemes. However it did note that only 18 local authorities currently offer a school milk scheme. We know from anecdotal evidence that bureaucracy associated with the RPA claim process limits on products that can be offered and stipulations on when the provision can be offered are key reasons for local authorities choosing not to participate in the RPA scheme. As such by removing the restrictions and extending funding to all 32 local authorities, it is expected that more local authorities will be encouraged to provide a milk scheme in their area ensuring that more children will have access to a school milk scheme.

5. Analysis of Evidence

Previous scheme arrangements did not permit non-dairy alternatives where a child is unable or chooses not to consume dairy milk. It also restricts the time of day pupils can access a school milk scheme. The new scheme removes those restrictions and instead recognises that local authorities are best places to design schemes that meet the needs of the children in their local schools.

The evidence set out in the previous sections of this assessment has helped to inform and shape the development of the new scheme by identifying the key features that the new scheme should be based on including on equity of provision, support for child nutrition and support for low income families.

A further key feature that has been included in the new scheme as a result of the evidence set out in the previous sections is the need for local authorities to be allowed to design their local schemes to meet the needs of the children in their local schools. This is in recognition that needs, priorities and circumstances will be differ from one area to another and a one size fits all is unlikely to meet or further children’s rights or needs.

This evidence demonstrated that the creation of a new Scottish School Milk Subsidy Scheme which provided direct funding to local authorities would encourage wider access to milk products for children and young people as it would reduce the bureaucracy that puts off some local authorities from applying for support from the current RPA Scheme.

6. What changes (if any) have been made to the proposal as a result of this assessment?

Support for the scheme to be equitable by extending to non-dairy alternatives for those unable or choose not to consume dairy was noted within the evidence gathered.

Support for minimising the bureaucracy associated with accessing funding was also noted as was the support for local authorities to design local schemes in line with local needs rather than a one size fits all scheme across Scotland.

As such the evidence gathered supports the original plan to provide local authorities with funding and flexibility to design local school milk schemes to meet the needs of the children in their local schools.