On the 6th of October Professor Sally Holland chaired and hosted an event to launch the final report of the British Academy’s Childhood Policy Programme in the Spark|Sbarc building. The programme had found notable differences across the UK nations in how governments understand childhood and develop policies. Both Wales and Scotland’s children’s rights approaches, built into policy-making processes, have led to legislation and approaches such as prohibiting the use of physical punishment with children in the home and Wales’s new curriculum.
Keynote speakers included representatives of Cardiff Youth Council, UK Youth Parliament and the Senedd Ieuenctid/Welsh Youth Parliament, the Deputy Minister for Social Services, Julie Morgan MS, and Baroness Professor Ruth Lister.
Around 50 delegates from government, the Senedd, academia and the third sector attended, leading to lively discussion about Wales’s achievements, what more needs to be done and the relationship between Welsh and UK policy-making. The youth speakers left delegates with strong messages about impact, evaluation, inequalities and authentic participation, drawn from their own experiences of involvement in policy scrutiny and development.