Job Opening: Review of Nutrition Standards for the Hot School Meals Scheme

CORU Registered Dietitian or AFN Registered Nutritionist, Clinical Specialist or Senior Dietitian Grade (Full-time/Part-time)

to conduct a Review of Nutrition Standards for the Hot School Meals Scheme funded by the Department of Social Protection.

Expressions of Interest are invited for secondment for an initial 3-year period to the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health (Healthy Ireland), funded by the Department of Social Protection

TO ALL HR MANAGERS

HR Managers are requested to bring this notice to the attention of all eligible staff within their Organisation. Please note that the closing date for receipt of applications is midnight on Tuesday 3^rd June 2025

1. Background

The overall purpose of the health service is to improve the health and well-being of people in Ireland by keeping people healthy, providing the healthcare people need, delivering high quality services and getting best value from health system resources.

The Department of Health’s role is to provide strategic leadership for the health service and to ensure that Government policies are translated into actions and implemented effectively. A multi annual programme of health reform is set out in Sláintecare and the objective is to deliver a health and social care service that meets the needs of our population and attracts and retains the very best healthcare professionals, managers, and staff.

The Office of the Chief Medical Officer has responsibility for the provision of strategic leadership, evidence-based analysis, and expert medical advice to the Department, Government, broader health system and regulatory and professional bodies and the development of policy and legislation regarding patient safety and quality in health care. It also leads the development and coordination of health and wellbeing policy including the development of policy to address communicable diseases, immunisation, vaccination, obesity, rare diseases, non-communicable diseases, smoking, alcohol misuse and bioethical issues.

The Health and Wellbeing Unit is part of the Office of the Chief Medical Officer. The Health and Wellbeing Unit leads the coordination of implementation of Healthy Ireland, the national framework to improve health and wellbeing (2013-2025).

Healthy Ireland works closely with colleagues across other Government Departments, the HSE and a wide range of partners and stakeholders, including Local Authorities, Sport Ireland and NGO’s. The Unit oversees the implementation of a number of policies and strategies under the Healthy Ireland umbrella, including the Obesity Policy and Action Plan, the National Physical Activity Plan, National Sexual Health Strategy and the Healthy Workplace Framework as well as managing the Healthy Ireland Fund, conducting the annual Healthy Ireland Survey, and running a national communications and citizen engagement campaign (see www.gov.ie/healthyireland for further information).

Policy Context

The Hot School Meals Programme is funded by the Department of Social Protection (DSP). The objective of the School Meals Programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children to support them in taking full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies[1] to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement.

The Department of Social Protection (DSP) is continuing to expand the School Meals Programme and is building further on the significant extension of the programme that has taken place in recent years. In April this year, it was announced by the Minister for Social Protection, Dara Calleary TD, that some 2,850 Primary Schools across the country are now eligible to receive Hot School Meals. DSP will also be engaging with any primary schools not currently signed up, to encourage them to participate. This brings the total number of primary school children now eligible to receive a Hot School Meal every day to 475,000.

The Nutrition Standards for Hot School Meals were published under the auspices of Healthy Ireland, the national framework which aims to improve the health and wellbeing of the population of Ireland. The Nutrition Standards for the Hot School Meals programme are designed to support food business organisations (FBO’s) in creating suitable menu options to meet healthy eating guidelines for children in primary school. They were designed using the Scientific Recommendations for Healthy Eating Guidelines in Ireland[2]. An independent review of the Hot School Meals programme[3] identified the need for longitudinal research collating the three variables that underpin the project – better diets, better attendance and better educational attainment. This project aims to address the first of these variables.

[1] Children’s Rights Alliance. The European Child Guarantee. June 2021.

[2] Evaluation Report of School meals programme. RSM Dec 2022

[3] https://www.fsai.ie/getmedia/be0e5ec0-c1ce-40b9-8f66-51bb834bac44/10507_fsai_healthy-eating-guidelines-accessible-fa1.pdf

2. Key Responsibilities and Deliverables of the Post

It is expected that the successful candidate will demonstrate excellent interpersonal, communication, collaboration and influencing skills. Supervised by the Policy Advisor in Nutrition and Obesity (CORU Registered Dietitian) in the Head of Health and Wellbeing programme, the Dietitian will have the following key responsibilities (please note that this list is indicative and not exhaustive):

Engage with food-based organisations to establish if they have had nutritional and dietetic input to support them in the design of menu options available in the school food programme.
Multi-stakeholder engagement to examine the process involved in delivery of the school meal programme which includes, but is not limited to Department of Social Protection, Department of Education, HSE, FSAI.
Collect data on menu options from participating food-based organisations and construct a database.
Complete a desktop review of compliance with Nutrition Standards using dietary modelling complimented with dietary analysis on recipes provided by FBO’s.
Update the HI Nutrition Standards to remove the option of foods that are high in saturated fat salt and sugar in liaison with the Nutrition technical subgroup under the auspice of the Obesity Policy and Action Plan Implementation Group (OPIOG) and Healthy Eating Subgroup (HESG).
Conduct site visits to a selection of participating schools to examine meals provided, meals selected by children, review of optional extras being offered and review of waste: food and other.
Conduct surveys with both parents and children participating in the school meals programme to determine satisfaction with meals provided and explore opportunities for redesign or improvement of menu options.
Develop menu options and recipe ideas with dietitians and chefs in the FBO’s. Menu options should include options that will cater for children with certain dietary restrictions such as allergy, coeliac disease etc.
Design a suite of menu options for smaller food-based organisations who will not have regular access to nutrition and dietetic support.
Develop an online training module to highlight key nutritional issues to be considered in menu design for children.
Devise a screening tool for Department of Social Protection (DSP) employees so that they can check compliance to the nutrition standards on school visits as part of the audit review process.
Evaluate training module with FBO’s and implemented monitoring system with DSP.

3. Qualifications / Experience Required

Essential Criteria:

Applicants must be registered as a Dietitian by the Dietitians Registration Board at CORU (www.coru.ie) or be a registered Nutritionist with the Association of Nutrition (AFN)*

and

Minimum three years clinical and / or nutrition and dietetic experience.
Experience of multidisciplinary working and stakeholder engagement.
Have experience in using dietary analysis and menu design software.
Have experience of working with children and/or in paediatrics and be able to demonstrate knowledge of dietary requirements of healthy children and in children with specific dietary needs.
Applicants must demonstrate evidence of continuing professional development relevant to the required area of specialism, in the form of post-graduate qualifications or relevant courses.
Applicants must demonstrate achievement in the areas of clinical audit and or quality improvement initiatives.
Applicants must have the requisite knowledge and ability, including a high standard of suitability, management, leadership and professional ability for the proper discharge of the duties of the office.

Desirable Criteria:

An interest in Public Health Nutrition or Food Service Nutrition and Dietetics.
Project management skills.
Experience of working on national and/or international focused projects.
Capability to critically analyse and interpret research and health related information and prepare reports.
Experience in service development.

*National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) Level 8 or level 9 equivalent in Nutrition.

4. Eligibility for the post

To be eligible for this position candidates must be currently employed in the health service, where a secondment to the Department of Social Protection is possible. Please only apply for this position if you meet this criteria.

It is expected that candidates would be currently employed on their existing HSE/ Voluntary organisation salary scale. Funding is available for a part time post at Clinical Specialist Grade or Senior Dietitian Grade (salary scale €63,279-€81,228 pro rata).

Applicants are eligible to apply based on demonstration of knowledge, experience and skills meeting the criteria described above. Candidates will retain their existing terms and conditions and salary while on secondment.

Prior to the successful candidate being offered a position, current supervisors will be required to certify that the candidate has worked well in his or her present post and has been satisfactory in general conduct and in respect of sick leave.

5. Conditions of Assignment

This is a full-time or part-time position.
The post holder will be based in the Department’s of Health HQ, Miesian Plaza, Dublin, for supervision and project management. The postholder will report to the Department of Social Protection, who holds responsibility for management of the School Meals Programme. The current minimum attendance in the office is 2 days per week. The post holder will be required to attend the Department of Social Protection, to work with the school meals programme policy team as required.
The secondment will be for a period of 36 months with an option to extend for a further 24 months. This arrangement will be reviewed after three months to ensure that it is meeting the expectations of both parties.
In the event of an officer’s service not being satisfactory the secondment arrangement will cease, and the officer will return to his or her parent organisation.
While on secondment an officer will continue to have access to promotional opportunities in his/her parent organisation.
While on secondment an officer will not be eligible to compete in internal promotional competitions which are restricted to staff of the Department of Health or Department of Social Protection.
At the end of the period of secondment, the officer will return to his or her parent Department/organisation, in accordance with the redeployment arrangements applying at that time.
The successful candidate must be able to take up duty without undue delay.

6. Application & Selection Process

Application Process

Applicants should submit a succinct CV (maximum three pages) highlighting relevant experience accompanied by a signed cover letter (maximum one page). The cover letter should set out their reasons for considering themselves qualified and suitable for the role. The CV should include the names of two referees but please note that they will not be contacted in advance of securing the candidate’s permission.

Applicants should note the importance of these two documents in terms of providing clear, concise, and relevant supporting information specific to this role.

Applications should be sent by email to Health_Secondments@health.gov.ie by midnight on Tuesday, 3^rd June 2025.

Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

Selection Process

It is likely that following a shortlisting exercise, based on the information provided in CVs and cover letters, a number of candidates will be invited to attend for interview.

It is intended that interviews will be scheduled for the week commencing 9^th June 2025.

The interview will entail a discussion that is based on the role (as set out above) and the applicant’s experience and understanding specific to this. In addition, there are competencies which are relevant to this role include (1) management and delivery of results, (2) communication and interpersonal skills, (3) analysis and decision making.

Applications will be treated in strictest confidence. All enquires, applications, and all aspects of the proceedings are treated as strictly confidential and are not disclosed to anyone outside those involved in that aspect of the process.