Education (Scotland) Act 1980

Provision of food and clothing

53 Provision of school meals

(1) An education authority—

(a) may provide milk, meals or other refreshment for pupils in attendance at public schools and other educational establishments under their management; and

(b) shall provide such facilities as the authority consider appropriate for the consumption of any meals or other refreshment brought to the school or other educational establishment by such pupils.

(2) An education authority shall exercise their power under subsection (1)(a) above in relation to any pupil whose parents are in receipt of supplementary benefit or family income supplement so as to ensure that such provision is made for him in the middle of the day as appears to the authority to be requisite.

(3) An education authority—

(a) may make such charges as they think fit for anything provided by them under subsection (1)(a) above, except where it is provided by virtue of subsection (2) above ; but

(b) shall remit the whole or any part of any charge that would otherwise be made if, having regard to the particular circumstances of any pupil or class or description of pupils, they consider it appropriate to do so.

(4) For the purposes of this section, a pupil for whom an education authority have made special arrangements under section 14 of this Act may, at the discretion of the authority, be deemed to be in attendance at a public school under their management.

54 Provision of clothing for pupils at public schools

(1) When it is brought to the notice of an education authority that a pupil attending a school under their management is unable by reason of the inadequacy or unsuitability of his clothing to take full advantage of the education provided, the education authority shall make such provision for the pupil for the purpose of ensuring that he is sufficiently and suitably clad as they may deem necessary during such period while the pupil is attending school (including days when the school does not meet) as they may determine.

(2) Where an education authority make provision for a pupil in pursuance of this section, they shall be entitled to recover from the parent of the pupil the expense thereby incurred or, if the authority are satisfied that the parent is unable without financial hardship to pay the whole of that expense, such part thereof, if any, as he is, in the opinion of the authority, able without financial hardship to pay.

(3) Without prejudice to any powers conferred upon them by subsections (1) and (2) above, an education authority may provide clothing free of charge—

(i) for any pupil who is a boarder at a school, or

(ii) for any pupil in attendance at a nursery school or a nursery class,

under the management of the authority.

(4) For the purposes of this section—

(a) a pupil on attaining the age of five years shall, pending his admission to school, be deemed to be attending a school under the management of the education authority in whose area he is ordinarily resident; and

(b) a pupil for whose education it is the duty of an education authority to provide special education shall be deemed to be attending a school under the management of that authority.

55 Provision of food and clothing for pupils at schools other than public schools

An education authority may, with the consent of the managers of any school in their area which is not a public school, and upon such financial and other terms, if any, as may be determined by agreement between the authority and the managers, make arrangements for securing—

(a) the provision of milk, meals and other refreshment for pupils in attendance at the school; and

(b) the provision, for any pupil in attendance at the school who is unable by reason of the inadequacy or unsuitability of his clothing to take full advantage of the education (including physical exercise) provided by the school, of such clothing as is necessary for the purpose of ensuring that he is sufficiently and suitably clad while he remains a pupil at the school.

56 Condition of provision of clothing by education authorities

Save as may be otherwise prescribed, provision of clothing by an education authority under any of the powers conferred by this Act may be made in such a way as to confer, at the option of the authority, either a right of property in the clothing or a right to use it only.