A Scottish Government working group tasked with tackling hunger over a year ago is yet to come up with a definition of malnutrition. Papers seen by the Sunday Mail also reveal the committee is still debating whether to gather data on children despite fears thousands of pupils are attending school hungry.
We revealed in October that the group had not met despite having been announced by ministers in 2021. Three weeks later, members finally got around the table – only to be warned they should be aware of “huge pressures” on budgets.
Minutes of the group’s first meeting state: “Discussion took place regarding whether it had been defined whether data is required for only adults or if it focused on children as well. Given the data that has been seen in terms of children recently... it was proposed consideration be given to all ages rather than having to repeat the work further down the line for children.”
