Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for
Education and Skills
John Swinney MSP

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F/T: 0300 244 4000
E: dfmcse@gov.scot

By email:
Directors of Education
Chief Executives

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Our ref:

EU SCHOOL MILK SCHEME

22 June 2020
Dear Colleague
I am aware that many local authorities and schools in Scotland participate in the EU school
milk scheme which is administered by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) and provides the
opportunity to claim for a subsidy to help fund local free school milk schemes.
We expected that Scottish local authorities and schools would continue to be able to claim
under this scheme until the end of the Brexit transitionary period (31 December 2020)
however we have been advised that the European Commission has decided that the UK will
no longer be able to claim for subsidy under this scheme from October 2020. As such the
RPA have advised that all final claims for subsidy must be submitted by participating local
authorities and schools to them through the usual channels no later than the middle of July
2020.
The UK government have advised that they are considering challenging the EC decision and
requesting that we continue to be able to claim under this scheme until 31 December 2020.
However they advise that even if they do decide to challenge the decision, the outcome is
not guaranteed and the process is slow meaning that confirmation is unlikely to be secured
before the current final claim date of mid July 2020.
With this in mind you may wish to take steps to ensure that any claim for free school milk
scheme subsidy that has been incurred up to the end of the current school year is submitted
to the RPA no later than the middle of July 2020 in case an extension is not sought or
secured by the UK government.

Scottish Ministers, special advisers and the Permanent Secretary are
covered by the terms of the Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016. See
www.lobbying.scot

St Andrew’s House, Regent Road, Edinburgh EH1 3DG
www.gov.scot

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 While I would expect those local authorities and schools currently claiming under the scheme
to be receiving updates from the RPA on this matter, I thought it was important to share this
information with you in case you were not yet aware given that the deadline is less than four
weeks away.
I have asked my officials to seek assurances from the RPA and UK government that they will
provide local authorities and schools participating in the scheme with further updates in
relation to the outcome of any decision to challenge the EC as this will determine whether or
not local authorities and schools in Scotland are able to claim under this scheme when our
schools return in August 2020.

JOHN SWINNEY

Scottish Ministers, special advisers and the Permanent Secretary are
covered by the terms of the Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016. See
www.lobbying.scot

St Andrew’s House, Regent Road, Edinburgh EH1 3DG
www.gov.scot

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