PROPOSALS to increase the price of breakfast clubs for school children were narrowly voted through at a meeting of West Dunbartonshire Council education services committee.
Breakfast clubs will now also be piloted at the only two schools in the area which don’t currently have them. A move which was welcomed by a member of a parents’s school council in the Vale.

A roll-call vote saw councillors vote by nine to seven to increase the prices for pupils from working families to 80p for the first child and 35p for additional children from the same family – this means that two children from the same family would pay a total of £1.15, or three children from the same family would pay £1.50. The increase for working families with one child using the facility is 115 per cent. Families on low incomes will pay an extra 75 per cent with the price of a session rising from 20p to 35p for each child.


The cost to the council of maintaining the service for the coming academic year is estimated to rise by £13,000 from £148,000 to £161,000. Currently the council subsidises the clubs to the tune of £102,800, with staffing costs making up around two-thirds of the £148,000. The charges to pupils returns £45,200 of the total cost.

Councillor Jim Bollan, who doesn’t sit on the committee, had criticised the proposals beforehand. He called the decision by the Labour-run administration to increase the cost to parents as “scandalous”, adding: “According to the local CAB the biggest increase in their caseload is the working poor, the very client group being targeted by Labour. With one in four children in West Dunbartonshire living in poverty these figures will rise as Labour continue to attack the client groups least able to defend themselves.”

St Martin’s Primary in Renton, which is in the Leven ward, is one of only two schools which doesn’t currently run a breakfast club. Under the new plans the council will now launch a pilot breakfast club project at the school.
Cllr Bollan, who represents constituents in the ward, welcomed the move to introduce clubs at the two schools which don’t have one but that was tempered by the price rise.

He added: “I am delighted that the schools will now be getting one but the rise in cost to parents is a recipe for disaster with so many people being forced to use food banks. If they were really interested in tackling poverty then they should make the service free.

Drew McEwan, of St Martin’s parents council, was involved with the previous breakfast club provided for the use of pupils at both schools in Renton. He said: “It’s great and it doesn’t surprise me that they have brought something back but it shouldn’t have been taken away in the first place. It was absolute folly by the council’s education services to cut funding for the club.  It seems to be a cycle with the council in that they seem to forget the mistakes they made the last time.”


Christie Park Primary in Alexandria is the other school where a new pilot project will be launched. The new clubs will be introduced at both schools on a trial basis. If the facilities are used in good numbers then it is planned that they would become a permanent fixture.

During the meeting last Wednesday Cllr Michelle McGinty, convener of educational services, said she had received positive feedback from parents she had spoken to concerning the proposed price rises.
She said: “As someone who has children at breakfast clubs I know when I drop them off and talk to other parents they are willing to pay the increases and think it is fair. It’s a safe environment for them in the morning.”

During debate it was suggested that head teachers use discretion if pupils were discovered to be unable to pay for breakfast and Cllr George Black raised concerns that children from families who could least afford the price rises would be hardest hit.


Jackie Baillie MSP said: “Breakfast clubs are important because they provide much-needed childcare for working parents and ensure that kids start the day with a healthy meal. That’s why during the election Labour fought to increase spending on breakfast clubs and stop cuts to the education budget. Faced with the choice of using the powers of the Scottish Parliament to invest in our children or carrying on with the SNP’s cuts, we would use our powers to stop the cuts.”


Commenting after the decision, Cllr McGinty said: “These new changes take the clubs to all our primary schools, put in place a standard service and make the service affordable in the coming years to the council at a time when we are facing unprecedented cuts in our budget from government.

“As a council we’re committed to improving the life chances of children and young people and the health benefits of a nutritious breakfast are clear. As a working mum, I’m also aware that these clubs enable hundreds of parents and carers to go to work or college by providing somewhere safe for them to drop their children before the start of school.”