Kitchen cuts serving up future problems for nation's health

Latest council cash savings let down our children, says George Foulkes.

I NEVER cease to be amazed by the shameful and irresponsible actions of the administration in Edinburgh in a bid to tackle its self-induced financial crisis. It was bad enough when we discovered that budget cuts, sorry, "Proposals for Disinvestment", were directly hitting older people and key voluntary sector services but the relentless pursuit to deprive our children of an education system free from the threat of cuts and closures goes against everything I stand for.

Since the Lib Dem/SNP coalition took over the council last May, the children and families of Edinburgh have had to fight tooth and nail to keep their local schools and nurseries from closure, have had to accept crèche facilities closing and endure increased fees for the ones they managed to save. The Go 4 It programme, a holiday activities club that this year involved almost 1000 secondary school children, is being cut. Physical education allocation is no longer guaranteed, school meals are being increased by 10p and now parents have to fight to keep school kitchens open.

This is not what the Scottish Government promised in its manifesto, it is certainly not a record to be proud of and the parents in Edinburgh and beyond have now had enough with the unkindest cut of all.

Fourteen out of the eighteen state nursery schools across Edinburgh are to stop serving hot meals, along with six schools out of eight no longer cooking meals for children, but bringing in ready-made meals and cold sandwiches.

This has provoked fury among kitchen staff and parents, many of whom have contacted me.

Ruth McKay, practice manager at the Children's Weight Clinic in Edinburgh, said: "Sandwiches are no substitute for a proper meal. Surely, the council can find something else to cut, instead of the possible one hot meal a day these children will have?"

A recent HMIE report stated that "sometimes the quality of food served was adversely affected by transportation" and highlighted complaints by pupils about the quality of transported food.

Not only has the council ignored this by forcing children to eat transported school meals, it is contradicting every policy or funding commitment the SNP Government has made in tackling childhood obesity and promoting healthy eating.

The council is selling out on our children's health and education.

Investing in our children is investing in Scotland's future. It should be the single most important thing we do as a nation, not only to ensure we prosper long term but also to fulfil a duty of care to all our children. The councillors who share responsibility for running the city are showing a complete disregard for this view and a total contempt for children, parents and the health of our nation.

• George Foulkes is a Lothians MSP