Reclassification of school meal uptake statistics
Dear Ed,
I am writing to inform you of a significant change to the methodology used to produce school meal uptake statistics in Scotland, and to seek agreement on the reclassification of these statistics.
Up to last year, these statistics were based on data collected through the School Healthy Living Survey and published as accredited official statistics under the title “School Healthy Living Survey: School Meal Uptake Statistics”.
Over the past year, we have developed an improved methodology that uses data on meal provision collected through local government finance returns. This change removes the need for the School Healthy Living Survey, which has now ceased. The new approach represents a substantial methodological shift—for example, it uses financial data that reports on meals taken over the course of a year, rather than relying on a snapshot survey of a single day.
Given the scale of this change, we consider it appropriate to publish the new statistics as official statistics in development while we seek further feedback from users on the methodology.
I am therefore seeking OSR’s agreement to:
- Remove the accreditation from the School Healthy Living Survey statistics
- Classify the replacement school meal uptake statistics, produced under the new methodology, as official statistics in development
Yours sincerely
Alastair McAlpine
Chief Statistician
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