Schoolchildren in South Ayrshire schools are to be given free sanitary products.

South Ayrshire Council has agreed to make products available to support the equality, dignity and rights of women, and ensure the lack of access to products does not affect their education.

After the Scottish Government committed to provide sanitary products across Scotland, it has now made around £40,000 available to the council to invest in the roll-out.

The service is due to begin at the start of the school year in August, and will be reviewed in February 2019 to establish if any further investment is needed.

Councillor William Grant said: "We're committed to breaking down barriers to success and by making sanitary products available free of charge we're empowering young women to focus solely on their education.

"By speaking to young people in our schools we've identified what they think we should be providing, a factor that will help make this a success, with work already underway to make sure we have enough stock to meet demand after the summer break.

"We'll also be encouraging young women using the service to take home products for their use during the evenings, weekends and holidays so that the issue of so-called 'period poverty' becomes a thing of the past."