PUPILS at high schools across Lancashire are to be issued with swipe cards in a bid to end lunchtime bullying and the stigma of free dinners.

Lancashire County Council has pioneered new technology in 12 schools which have swapped daily dinner money for a 'credit card' topped up each week by parents or the education authority.

Council bosses have now agreed to become the first in the North West roll out the cashless system at all high schools after teachers reported it was easing the embarrassment felt by youngsters entitled to free meals and stamping out bullying.

Today Blackburn with Darwen Council revealed it had piloted a similar scheme at Pleckgate High School and was now seeking cash to roll it out into every high school.

The county council's trial scheme resulted in the number of school dinners sold per day rising by 14 per cent to 500 per school. Free school meal sales have risen by 18 per cent as a result of the Blackburn with Darwen pilot.

The scheme at county council schools were introduced in the wake of a 2001 report from the Department for Education and Employment and the Child Poverty Action Group.

It said one in five children were skipping free school lunches - offered to low income families - to avoid being teased and bullied. It was feared that they were missing out on their only nutritious meal of the day.

This was reflected in a snapshot study by Lancashire County Council this year, which revealed that 2,162 high school pupils were not claiming their free lunches.

Six high schools in East Lancashire have tried the scheme, and now 11 more have been identified for the next phase, which will be rubberstamped by the county council's cabinet tomorrow.

Roger Eakhurst, from the commercial services department, said: "The swipe card scheme eliminates problems in the past, such as teasing, and means that no-one knows who is claiming a free school meal and who isn't.

"It also means parents who pay for their children to have school meals know their children are getting the meals, rather than just spending the money on sweets at the corner shop."

Schools which have used the technology so far include Ivy Bank, Burnley; West Craven High School, Barnoldswick; Mount Carmel, Accrington; and Mansfield High School, Brierfield.

St Hilda's High School, Rossendale Road, Burnley, was one of the first schools in Lancashire to pilot the scheme.

Headteacher Bernadette Bleasdale said: "The fact that all the children have the same card whether they are on free dinners or not means that the stigma attached with the free dinners has now gone because nobody knows who has what.

"Small incidents of bullying, whereby children are asked to purchase things for somebody else have been stamped out because we can use the computer system to find out exactly what transactions have been made in any one day."

The card is diet-friendly so counter staff know about children with special dietary needs.

St Hilda's pupil Jade Shopcott, 11, said: "The people who are on free dinners don't feel embarrassed with this system because nobody knows who is on them and who isn't."

And deputy head girl Helen Thompson, 15, said: "Students don't have to carry cash around with them now and risk it being lost or stolen."

The new technology was first tested in Camden and Blackburn with Darwen..

Peter Hunt, director of direct services said: "We are looking at extending the scheme to other high schools that we provide catering facilities for and are seeking funding for the scheme."