Sector: Professionals & Practitioners

Young and Hungry: School Meal Policies and Children’s Right to Food in the UK and Ireland

This article evaluates school meal policies in the UK and Ireland as a means to ensure the fulfilment of children’s right to food, as protected under international law. It adopts a comparative approach, assessing the varying strategies adopted across the two jurisdictions and their challenges. Whilst new developments, including the recent expansion of both hot meal provision in Ireland and universal free school meals in Wales and Scotland, are welcomed, the article argues that school meal policies across the UK and Ireland need to be radically rehauled if they are to make any headway in the realisation of children’s right to food.

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Beyond Limits – How to Run a Mixed Ability Youth Advisory Panel: Key Learnings from the Ombudsman for Children’s Office

Beyond Limits is the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) event for children and young people with disabilities and their families. It aims to show them the opportunities open to them, talk about the issues they want to talk about, and highlight inclusiveness. With Beyond Limits, we want to show how a fully inclusive event can be the rule and not the exception.

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Report of Two Pilot Studies Exploring Approaches and Methods to Involve Babies, Toddlers, and Young Children in Participation in Decision-making

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) and Hub na nÓg established an Early Years Working Group (EYWG) during 2021 to develop guidance for consulting with children and babies aged birth to 5 years. The EYWG was comprised of stakeholders from the policy, academic, creative, and early learning, and care sectors with expertise in the area. The remit of the EYWG was to consider existing research and resources on the participation of children and babies aged birth to 5 years in participation in decision-making and identify gaps in addition to piloting methodologies that enable the participation of young children in decision-making.

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