Children's Fund

HC Deb 06 December 1999 vol 340 cc449-50W

Mr. Paul Marsden

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many children in(a) Shrewsbury and Atcham and (b) Shropshire will benefit from the new Children's Fund; and if he will make a statement. [101125]

Mr. Timms

In the 1999 Pre-Budget Report, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the Government will set up a new Children's Fund in the spending review in 2000. The Fund will support pioneering work by voluntary and community sector organisations working with low-income children and their families, building on the sector's access to communities and families that the statutory sector struggles to engage. The review will take place in forthcoming months and as yet resources have not been allocated to the Fund, but we expect children from all over England to benefit from the activities it will support.