Scots schoolchildren miss out on free fruit

Children are being denied a free fruit scheme because of Treasury red tape according to the Scottish Government.

Ministers had made a successful bid to the European Commission to join a 1.1 million programme to provide extra fruit to pupils.

But children's minister Adam Ingram said UK government rules would allow the Treasury to take back almost three-quarters of the funding, effectively costing Scotland 792,000.

He said: "The EU fruit scheme would have allowed local authorities to extend current fruit provision in schools and would have brought real health benefits for Scotland's school pupils.

"It is therefore extremely disappointing that while we submitted a successful bid for 1.1 million funding, accepted in April, we have been forced to withdraw from the scheme, given that almost three-quarters of the money spent by local authorities would have been clawed back by the UK government.

"I have taken the difficult decision to write to local authorities informing them that we have had to reluctantly withdraw our bid." However he said he hoped the rules could be changed so children could enjoy the benefits of the EU scheme in future.