Free school bag 'gimmick' to cost £2.7m
Firm behind baby box project secures contract
Free school bags offered to P1 pupils by the Scottish government will cost £2.7 million over the next two years, ministers have said.
Marketing firm APS Group has been handed the contract to assemble and distribute the ‘Welcome to School’ bags, which include essentials such as stationery and a water bottle.
While APS has an office in Edinburgh, backpacks themselves will be manufactured in China. The stationery and other items to be included in the bags will be made by manufacturers in Europe and Britain.
The government said the bags will be “assembled” in Scotland to ensure “maximum value for money.”
APS currently has a lucrative contract to support the supply and distribution of the government’s baby box initiative. The five year deal is worth around £8m a year.
The free school bag scheme has been described as a “gimmick” by the Scottish Conservatives, who urged the government to focus efforts on improving the education system.
Education secretary, Màiri McAllan, said the government wanted to “ensure children start school on an equal footing.”
“Excellence and equity is my principal ambition for education, and providing every new P1 pupil with a high-quality bag is part of our wider work to remove barriers for all at the very start of their school journey,” she said.
“Building on the success of our universal baby box offer, we want to ensure children start school on an equal footing and with a feeling that they belong.
“As well as being available in five colours, children will have the option of adding a drawing to personalise their Welcome to School Bag, to help them start school excited and with all the essentials for their first steps into the classroom.
“These will be delivered in time to be given to children during their transition visits, when the new intake go into primary schools ahead of the summer holidays to get to know their new class.”
The backpacks, which will be available in blue, green, pink, red, or yellow, will also include resources to encourage literacy and numeracy practice at home, as well as information deemed relevant to families of P1 children including details of social security entitlements, and advice for parents and carers on keeping children safe online.
The government estimates about 47,000 pupils will start school across the country in the 2027/28 academic year.
But Scottish Conservative education spokeswoman, Meghan Gallacher, said the money should go towards addressing the stubborn attainment gap in Scottish education.
“The SNP’s latest education policy is a gimmick that is full of colour but totally lacking in substance,” she said.
“It was a desperate election stunt from John Swinney and his colleagues who are now happy to squander £1.35m a year on giving backpacks to young people.
“This is taxpayers’ money that should be going towards tackling the attainment gap and restoring Scotland’s reputation for educational excellence.
“After nearly two decades in power, SNP ministers are still prioritising flashy giveaways over fixing Scotland’s broken education system.”
Ms Gallacher added: “Parents don’t need colourful backpacks and political gimmicks. They need SNP ministers that focus on the real issues facing our pupils and deliver better results for their children.”
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