Renfrewshire Council has hit back at claims that it is using sheriff officers to pursue school dinner debt.

Councillor Alison Ann-Dowling, deputy leader and finance spokesperson for Renfrewshire's Labour group, claims a Freedom of Information request made by her party revealed local parents were being pursued by debt collectors over unpaid bills for their children's school meals.

However, a spokesperson for Renfrewshire Council said the local authority does not use sheriff officer powers to pursue school meal debt.

They added: "Renfrewshire Council has not taken legal action against anyone for school meal debt and no child in Renfrewshire is ever left without a school meal. 

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"It is our priority to help families maximise their income and we provide a range of advice services to help identify support, this includes a process for writing off school meal debt for vulnerable families. 

"For anyone struggling with debt, for any reason, we would urge them to contact the new Schools Support Service operated by Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau or the Council's Advice Works team."

In Scotland, all local council pupils from primary one to primary five get free school meals.

Ms Ann-Dowling is calling for universal free school meals to be rolled out to all primary school children as soon as possible.

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The Houston, Crosslee and Linwood representative said: "There can be no further delay in financing local councils to expand kitchen and dining provision so that no primary school pupil goes through the school day hungry. 

"Labour-run Inverclyde council has run out of patience waiting for the Scottish Government to commit the cash promised to refit school kitchens and have taken the decision to proceed with rolling out free school dinners to all Inverclyde primary schools."

A spokesperson for the SNP said: "Universal free school meals will be rolled out to all children in primary six and seven. As set out previously, this will be a two-stage process that will see free school meals first extended to pupils whose families are in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment, before then extending to all children in primary school during 2026.

"Under the SNP, Scotland has the most generous universal free school meal provision of any nation in the UK.

"All pupils in primaries one to five, all pupils in special schools and eligible pupils in Primary 6 through to S6 currently benefit, saving families an average of £400 per eligible child per year which makes a huge difference to families struggling with Westminster's cost of living crisis."