Response to draft Programme for Government – November 2024

Our key points are:-

1. We believe that the Executive should set out a clear ambition for their delivery for children by including an overarching priority on improving children’s wellbeing
2. The Children’s Services Cooperation Act (northern Ireland) 2015 put in place a statutory obligation that the PFG takes into account reports produced under the Act, on how well government is cooperating to deliver on children’s well being – this has not been reflected in the PFG and needs to be addressed.
3. A clear omission from the PFG is a priority on ‘Eradicating Poverty’ – to be delivered through the development and implementation of an Anti-Poverty Strategy, with a significant focus on lifting children out of poverty.

The full response can be downloaded to the right hand side of this page.