Daily roundup 29 April: Election hustings, health, and free school meals

Young people and staff from YMCAs in Birmingham, Norfolk and London have quizzed local election candidates at hustings events organised by the charity. Key election issues debated at the hustings, the last of which takes place in Bedfordshire today, have included accommodation, health and wellbeing, family work and youth training and education.

Worried parents are taking their children to hospital emergency departments unnecessarily, according to the president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. The Times reports Hilary Cass said an increase in waiting times for GPs have also contributed to growing pressures on services and a rise of nearly 30 per cent in children’s hospital admissions over the past 10 years.


Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg wants “every child to have a hot, healthy school lunch”, Sky News reports. Annually the move would cost £610m to run with an extra £100m needed to be invested in improvign school facilities, but Clegg believe the policy is achievable.


The appointment of the chair of the Charity Commission should be subject to greater parliamentary scrutiny, a new paper from the National Council for Voluntary Organisations recommends. The paper follows concerns that successive chairs of the Commission have been subject to accusations of political bias, following 2006 reforms which revamped its governance. The paper argues that strengthening the role of parliament in the process of appointing the chair would help allay concerns over their work.


Providing better childcare support would help low-paid parents better balance the dual demands of family and work life, research by the Child Poverty Action Group suggests. The research - based on polling of 4,000 members of the public, focus groups with 20 parents and interviews with employers - finds a strong desire among parents to work and a recognition that high childcare costs and a lack of out of school care is a major barrier to low income parents to achieving the right mix of home and work life. Nearly two-thirds of children living in poverty has at least one parent in work.


Business owners and parents in Leicestershire are being advised about keeping young people safe in the work place. Awareness of child employment law is being raised across the county as part of a week-long campaign run by Leicestershire County Council. To ensure young people are protected, information on work permits and ensuring young people's education is not affected is being shared.